Hono Tripper (*complete*)
by Nemesi
Summary: Voyaging through time insn't exactly an enjoyable experience, more so if you find yourself in the middle of clash. But if a red-haired warrior with warm chocolate brown eyes is there to help you, maybe thing are not *that* bad... (Daiken)
1. Prelude & Chapter 01

**_A/N= *peeks up* Oooh, look, it's me again… and with a new story, when I should be focusing on my ongoing series that are waiting to be finished. ^^;; _**

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**_Ken = You know her, she just can't focus on one story at time. _**

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**_Dai = *nods* _**

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**_Nemesi = *coughs* In fact, other than Heart of Steel and the other fics you already know, I've several things whose first chapters are ready and begging me to be posted._**

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**_Ken = *slaps hand against forehead* Masochist._**

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**_Nems = err… you think so, Ken-chan? ^^;; *coughs* A/N 2 : This fic is based off of Rumiko Takahashi's homonymous manga, "Hono Tripper". I took the liberty to change some parts of the story, though, so that who's familiar with the manga will have new delicious Kensuke scenes to read. =)_**

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**_A/N 3 = I wanted to enter this to Chyna Rose's Crossover contest, but she said clearly she doesn't want fic where the DD play the parts of the charas of another manga/anime. *snaps fingers* then I realized I could still post it, ne? So here it is. ;)_**

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**_Disclaimer = Digimon and Hono Tripper, their characters and concepts are not mine, but belong to the right owners. _**

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**_Couples = *dances* Kensuke! C'mon… what could you expect from =me= ?!^^v Plus, there are hints of Taito and Takori romance/friendship. _**

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**_Warning = PG-13, maybe bordering to R, and NOT for graphic content. I mention blood and death in this chapter – all the DD are all right, don't worry. This fic is gonna have limey scented scenes in later chapters, though. *winkswinks* _**

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**_Enjoy, minna! And pu-lease, review!!! You'll make a fanfic author happy!!! -^^- _**

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Hono Tripper 

**_Prelude – To me and you, toward destiny. _**

There was an explosion and billionths tongues of flames burst forth, seemingly out of nowhere. The huge chamber was no longer filled with shadows as the ravenous flames cast flickering light across its wooden walls. Crimson light and darkness melted and overflowed in the strangest games of heat and radiance. A billowing flame surged few inches in front of him and the little boy cried, rubbing at his eyes with his chubby little fists.

"Niisan…" he cried, his little chest heaving in jagged movements. "Niisan…"

The vortex of flames exploded in ripples of ruby heat, sending shattered particles of burning wood and sparkling flickers to flood the room. All around him the building began to crumble and fall away. The hot brilliance spread out, wiping away the remained darkness and destroying whatever it touched with cries of maniacal pleasure--sick, twisted, sadistic. The noises of the firestorm mixed and mingled in the air, a dreadful chorus to the glassy echo of the little bell giggling softly, almost tauntingly, secured to his side. The sickening cacophony would be punctuated every now and then by the noise of walls crumbling, of people yelling, of animals dying.

And in the middle of the hell, the kid kept crying softly, the flames engulfing his flesh, licking at his feet. He could feel the terrible heat rise all around him, the pungent odour of burnt cloth and flesh engulfed his nostril, mixed with the chocking taste of the ash coating the insides of his mouth.

"Niisan!!" he sobbed, fighting for air. "Niisan!!" Hot tears trailed down his cheeks, leaving sparkling marks on the grey ash. A lock of purple fell across his eyes and to brush his lips. Unconsciously, the little boy bit on it, his lips quivering hard. "…Niisan… niisan…"

The flames built up higher and higher around him, until all he could see was the livid cloud of smoke surrounding him. He kept sobbing, his fear overwhelming, fighting for precious air as the thick smoke clawed its way down his throat. His whispered call kept sliding out his lips, desperate, and rivulets of tears wet his ivory cheeks, now tainted with ash and mud. His lungs burned and so did his eyes. Tears blurred his vision, tightening his throat around any kind of scream for help. Something seemed to be holding him in place. At least, that's what he thought...

Then, something reached his ears and his scared violet eyes sprung wide open. More hellish flames licked his sides, but he paid them no heed, instead focusing on the blurred shape standing in the door way, hidden between wisps of black smoke. He squinted his eyes, a sparkle of hope igniting them as chocked yells made their way to his mind, shattering his state of quiet daze.

"… are… you…?! Answer… … … … where… … …?! Niichan! Niichan! Where… … … ?! I'm… …! Ken…!! Ken…!! KEN…!!!!"

"Niisan!!" they boy cried, reaching his little arms out. "Niisan!!"

"Ken…!!"

"Niisan!!"

The boy ran toward his brother, tears of relief falling down his face. His brother was there. With him. For him. There was nothing to worry about. Nothing… nothing… nothing but the ceiling suddenly collapsing, falling toward the boy in a mad rush. Falling for an embrace… a mortal embrace he couldn't escape.

The bell tinkled.

Everything afterwards happened like in a slow motion for the little child. His brother opened his mouth, screaming his name to the nothingness. The child stopped, scared to see the look of horror crossing the older boy's face. He turned around then, almost gracefully in all his innocence, purple air swirling around his ivory face. A flicker of confusion brighter than the thousands hues the flames had been casting into his wide eyes crossed his chubby features as he lifted his gaze to the crimson flames falling toward him. His heartbeat boomed loudly in his ears, blood pulsating through his veins almost painfully. His eyes widened, his fingers fidgeted as he fell backward, raising his arms in a futile resemblance of a shield.

The bell tinkled.

His mouth suddenly felt so dry that it seemed like filled with sand. And he could only stare as his destiny rushed toward him. Fire and pain burned around him, trapping him in a spiralling miasma of terror. And the mockingly twinkle of his silver bell was taunting him beyond belief. Echoing in his ears like a cold laughter, what had always appeared to him like a joyful sound was now the eerie mournful song for his death. His eyes widened even more, his throat tightened painfully. And when he screamed, it was a mute cry of terror. Then, as the world around him exploded in waves of painful hotness, the child let loose a cry, partly from pain, but mostly from fear, a feeling he had never felt before overwhelming him.

His insides clenched, his whole body seemed to go erect under the force of a bloodcurdling scream. His blood turned into ice. He felt each and every of his bone shatter like fragile glass. And then, he welcomed the cold embrace of darkness like an old friend, loosing himself in its depths as it took him in its arms and carried him away. Far, far away.

Again, the bell tinkled.

Voices reached him in his nestle of darkness; disembodied whispers interrogating him about things he didn't know, things he couldn't remember.

And the bell tinkled.

* * * * *

**_Chapter 01 – Of feelings and eternity _**

It was the epitome of a spring afternoon. The sun shone lazily in the yellow canvas of the sky, clothing each pearly wisps of clouds with a fine dress of gold. The sky behind the golden plate was painted with brilliant bright oranges, iridescent yellows, and blood reds, dimming to deep purples as the eye travelled toward the horizon. A sweet perfume hovered in the air and warmth spread through the desert streets, overflowing them with sweet brilliance.

The schoolboy was strolling home, his mind smitten by the sweet sound of the birdsong, mixed and melted with faint gurgle of children giggling in the close distance, and with the sweet echo of the tiny bell he had secured to his backpack. A red kite danced in the sky like a scarlet bird, touching the azure in small kisses and summoning stunning amethyst eyes over its warm hues. 

The boy tipped his head skywards, the cool breezes of early summer beginning to stream trough his hair. A gentle smiles tugged at his lips and he shook his head, amazed by the strange contempt that filled him. He resumed his slow stroll then, smiling gently to the air. A small wind picked up, streaming through his hair to move its locks in a frantic dance of purple. An ivory hand ran through long silk in attempt to tame the wild locks, his focus diverging to the little crowd of children few meters below him, chatting in the pale umbra of a tree, at the border of the soccer camp.

Amethyst eyes brimmed with affection as they fell on the redhead in the middle of the crowd, and their owner thoughtlessly tug his hair behind a pale ear as he called. The little child turned immediately, grinning widely at his older friend before swirling around and waving a hurried goodbye to his playmates.

"Ken-shan!" the little one called, round cheeks flushing as he hurried on top of the hill. "Ken-shan!" The one the kid's whole attention was diverged to kneeled gracefully in front of the him, lips curved in a kind smile.

"Konnichiwa, Daiku." He said politely, accompanying the quiet whisper with a little motion of his head.

"Ken-shan!" The kid panted, waving away grumpily the hand that was gently patting his head. "Whel' haf you been??"

The older boy chuckled, patting the child's head one last time before resting his hand in his lap. "To School, Daiku, you'll soon have to go there, too." The kid grimaced, wiggling his petite nose in a comical huff.

"I don't like 'chool."

The boy chuckled, but had the promptness to cover it with a cough, sensing that somehow it wasn't clever to laugh at a six years old quintessence of pure energy when he's glaring up at you murderously.

"Oh, I'm sure that once there, you'll find something to your liking." The kid frowned, wiggling his nose.

"There's gonna be a PC there?"

"I fear not." Ken chuckled.

"A PlayStation?" He asked a bit more hopefully, but Ken shattered the child's newborn hopes with a shake of his head.

"Neither."

The kid looked thoughtful for a moment, the tip of his tongue escaping his mouth as his brows furrowed in thought.

"You gonna be zere?"

"Of course." Ken nodded.

"Then I can't wait to go to 'chool!" the kid whooped in delight, and once again Ken chuckled, this time drying a little tear at the corner of his right eye.

Quietly, almost unsure if it wanted to be heard or not, strapped to Ken's bag and following his every gesture, the bell tinkled. 

Ken cocked his head to one side, studying the little kid's flushed cheeks and, noticing the way he gripped his shirt –rolled up to his chest- into two tight fists, the boy frowned in confusion. 

"Why were you showing your belly to those other kids, Daiku-chan?" At this the boy's dark eyes lit up, and it was impossible to call them dark anymore. 

"Look, look!" he squeaked in proud delight, raising his shirt further upward to reveal a rosy scar. "They've taken my appurentulix out!" 

"Appendix." Ken corrected automatically, gently tracing the child's belly before helping him roll his shirt back down. "And-" the amethyst eyed boy smiled, touching his index finger to Daiku's nose. "-did you cry when they did it?" 

"WHAT?!" Outraged, the kid huffed, puffing out his flushed cheeks like an animal that's trying to be scary. But if his aim was to scare Ken, he failed utterly, because the older boy just chuckled, covering his mouth politely. "I don't cly! I don't! I don't-don't-don't!" the kid shrieked, clenching his fists and stomping his foot. "Never –ever- ever- ever- ever- ever- ever!!! Boyz don't cly!" 

"Okay, okay!" Ken conceded, taking Daiku's hand in his and guiding him outside the Park. "But if you just exited the hospital, you shouldn't be around playing." 

"Oh, I'm stlong, you shouldn't wolly." Ken grinned, tossing his head teasingly. 

"Oh. So you came to the Park only to show your friends your little scar and prove them how strong you are?" At this, Daiku threw back his shoulders, his chest raising proudly. 

"Of course! I had my appendix out, *I*!" He wiggled his nose, as to hint at Ken how common mortals couldn't *possibly* have their appendix out. Again, Ken let loose a little chuckle, gently guiding the boy further down the street and toward home. 

"Yeah, yeah, but your mom will surely be worried." At this Daiku's light sun-browned features twisted in a pout, and he faced forward, making his best I'm-not-sulking-even-if-it-looks-like-I-am face. 

"Moms are strange. Who needz 'hem? Who needz women at all, for zat matter?" 

Although tempted to agree, Ken just shook his head, and faced forward, ginning strangely. 

"You'll discover that soon enough, I believe." 

"Women are not fun." Ken chuckled again, barely subduing the urge to burst out laughing. 

"You'll find one to your liking one day." He assured gently. 

"Naaa…" Daiku shrugged, squeezing gently Ken's hand. "I don't need any woman bozzing me alound. I need only you." 

Forgotten, the bell tinkled. 

A rush of embarrassment tingeing his cheeks with sweet red, Ken ducked his head, allowing his hair to slide forward and obscure his features, and looked up at the street through his lashes, eyes squinted pensively. In a moment of peculiar clarity, Ken was analysing the little boy's words on a somewhat deeper level. Okay, Daiku was his friend. But… was him just a 'friend' do Daiku? A crush seemed to explain things better, even if one were to consider Daiku's fairly young age.

Oh, Lord.

If Daiku's father ever heard something like that, he would accuse Ken of corrupting an innocent into gay-ism – that was for sure. On the other hand, if Daiku or his own mother's were to heard a word of that…

…they would begin the preparations of his and Daiku's wedding, the hell with the age difference. Blushing some more, Ken grimaced, loosening a little his hold on Daiku's little hand, and gaining for this a quizzical look and a successive little pout that went unnoticed to him.

Quietly, softly, almost if whispering to Ken something important in a language unknown to him and that he thus couldn't comprehend, the bell tinkled.

_//Oh well,//_ He concluded at last, turning to smile gently to an oblivious Daiku. _//It's not like it hurts to have a boy as a first crush. I can only hope Daiku will find someone else to diverge his affection to soon. A female someone, if I want to survive his father's rage.// _After all, his own first crush *had* been a boy. Oh, how he longed to remember more of the young man that had left him speechless and flushed for countless times! The only thing Ken remembered clearly of this Prince charming of his, were his bottomless ginger brown eyes that held countless flickers of gold that made them sparkle.

Ken turned towards the sky, squinting at it for a moment –lost in his thoughts. Then, feeling Daiku tugging at his hand impatiently, Ken looked at his feet, blushing a little, and the child snuggled closer to him.

"Ken-chan, whatcha thinking about?" Blinking quickly, Ken began to worry the hem of his shirt with his free hand, his blush deepening.

"I… uhm…" He stuttered, squeezing Daiku's hand a little.

_//Yeah, what was I thinking about? Prince Charming and fairy tales? Please, Ichijouji…// _

Blinking, Daiku pouted cutely, opening his eyes wide and fluttering his lashes at Ken.

"You wel ignoling me." Ken grinned, and shook his head in denial, but that would ruin Daiku's plan so the child shook his head too, fervently, and batted his eyelashes outrageously cutely. "You ale gonna come ovel and have dinnel with us, now, alen't you? If not, I could be so… so… *offended* I could even cly!" He shrieked, pouted and then blinked watery eyes. Ken arched a purple eyebrow at him, voice lowered to a mock-surprised gasp.

"I thought boys didn't cry!"

"Errr… this is an excemption."

"Exception." Ken shrugged. "I've to study, though…" Ken shoot a quick glance at the child and found Daiku giving him his better version of the "puppy" expression, complete with quivering bottom lip, glistening huge eyes, and fluttering eyelashes —and even if Ken tried to bite his laughter back, a small giggle still escaped him.

"Okay, why not?" He went, tossing his head as if to ponder the situation. Beside him, Daiku beamed and –satisfied- focused once again on the road. "Nee - How much time do you spend every day practicing that expression, Daiku-chan?" The purple haired boy laughed. Daiku blushed, managing to look even cuter.

"At least an houl. But don't tell mom, she thinks I'm a natulal." Then, every shyness forgotten, the kid beamed excitedly. "Ken-chan, guess what? I went on an amblulanz!"

"Ambulance."

Again, insistently, the bell tinkled.

A couple of men went walking past them, chatting animatedly about the latest soccer match transmitted on TV. Ken turned to look at them briefly as one of those brushed his shoulder, and when the man too turned and bowed his head apologetically, Ken smiled, nodded the man it was alright, and turned back around. Yet—

"Ehy… don't you smell… something like… gas?" The man muttered urgently. Ken froze, listening as the other man returned a panicked, "what?" and then turned around, just in time to see the building they were walking in front of deflagrate with a noise of billionths thunders striking.

The bell tinkled.

Ken's eyes widened. An electric current ran through him, settling in his legs and feet and paralysing him on the spot, despite instinct was demanding him to move. The explosion echoed in his ears, roaming terribly, and billionths tongues of flames burst forth, seemingly out of nowhere. The street was no longer filled with gentle orangey brilliance of the setting sun, but blood red light flickered and danced madly. A billowing flame surged few inches in front of him and Ken felt something in his chest twist. The sharp ache made it difficult to tell what it was. His heart, maybe?

Again, and again, the bell tinkled, as if laughing at Ken's helplessness.

Ken felt suddenly so very tired, too tired.

Giggles resounded… no, if he concentrated enough he could tell that was the bell tinkling.

Numbness was sinking slowly inside him, until his legs buckled and gave out from under him, letting him fall in the embrace of darkness.

And the bell tinkled.

* * * * *

The faint rushing sound of the wind reached Ken's ear even in his nestle of darkness; a disembodied whisper asking him to wake up.

And the bell tinkled.

Groaning, Ken cracked his eyes open, his fingers rasping unconsciously the floor underneath him. But when – instead of the cold asphalt of Tokio's streets – his fingers curled around fresh and wet mud, something in his mind clicked, and Ken raised his head, squinting glazed eyes against the pain. Groaning softly, Ken brought a hand on his forehead, moving matted purple hair from his eyes.

_//What happened?// _He asked himself, numbly, eyes still shut. Then, as the haze clouding his mind began to dissipate, _//There… has been an explosion… due to the gas… and…// _He remembered.Slowly, the still dazed teen let his lids flutter up, pressing a hand to his throbbing forehead, and lost completely the capacity to talk.

Where the smoking wreckage of the exploded building should be, there was only the blurred line of the horizon, with few, sporadic and far peaks standing against the fading light to embellish the sterile sight. Instead of solid asphalt, his feet dug into ductile mud, and instead of a blanket of grass and a procession of threes, where the Park should have been there were…

Corpses.

Dozens and dozens of those. What seemed the remains of a battlefield presented themselves to Ken's shocked eyes, and he could just stare, agape, at the myriad of bodies lying in front of him, seemingly asleep but too unchangeably still to have just surrendered to sleep. Trembling, Ken reached out, and touched gently the shoulder of a sleeping man -*sleeping* man- next to him, shaking him gently.

"Excuse me… sir…" When, as he feared, Ken received no answer, he became aware of a wet stickiness coating his hands. He raised them in bewilderment. Blinking, he moved them up, so that the fading sunlight could envelop them.

Blinking against a truth he didn't wan to see, Ken examined his hands in the light of the sun.

They were red.

Of course.

But not for the sunset light.

They were covered with blood.

Screaming, Ken backed away, and brought his knees up to his chest, wrapping shaking arms around them.

"Dead…" he whispered. "He's dead…" he repeated, as if he needed that truth to be said aloud to fully believe it. Then, staring unseeingly at the bodies laying all around him, Ken shivered softly, hugging his legs closer to his torso in his fright. "Dead… all dead… was it for the explosion?" Ken asked aloud, hopeful for an answer; and he was disappointed when he received none. Squinting his eyes to the sun overhead, Ken sighed, and then turned his attention back to the ones that shared this fragment of nightmare with him.

The glitters of armours caught in the sunlight welcomed him this time, and Ken felt his features twist into a frown, realizing with a shiver something his rational mind had refused to see before. What he had first labelled as a "strangely similar to a battlefield" area, revealed to be just what he'd first thought: a battlefield.

Broken swords, bows, arrows and lances could be seen lying next to their owners – or next to the ones they'd send to lie on the cold ground. Breastplates, armbands and various pieces of protective coverings were scattered around, even though most of them were still protecting bodies that needn't such careful care anymore. Ken shivered, out of what he wasn't sure, and backed away to the relative protection of the spot where he'd first found himself when he woke up, while praying silently to wake up from this nightmare soon, as soon as possible. For he didn't like this. Not at all.

But he was about to like it even less.

Shaking, Ken rose to his knees, only to hear a faint, wet murmur coming from close behind him.

"Young boy…" Shivering, Ken turned fully, the prayers in his head intensified to begging screams for help. Three men were now in front of him, eyes glinting with the unholy light of lust. "Pretty boy…" the same wet voice whispered huskily.

"He seems a girl…" the oldest of the three mused, craning his muscular neck.

"I like him…" A toothless, one-eyed man murmured back. Behind him, the third man chuckled evilly, clutching close to his chest the bunch of bloodstained spears he was carrying.

"I want him first."

Terrified, Ken held his breath until he almost lost consciousness. He finally exhaled and gasped for breath, expecting to wake up when he inhaled, but only screamed, for as the men saw his chest fall they moved, and suddenly where on him, pinning him down on the wet ground, tugging at his clothes, slapping his face, blocking his arms.

"Stop struggling!" One ordered drunkenly.

"Can I be the one to kill him afterwards?" Another muttered, licking his lips.

"No, I want the pleasure myself."

In the midst of the conversation, Ken's brain fully managed to process the enormousness of what about to happen. His thoughts suddenly stopped to run along the lines of, "I'm going to wake up soon," and transmuted into something that sounded more like, "Help me. I don't want this to happen, someone *please* help me…"

_//Me, why me? Why, why, why *me*?//_ Ken sobbed helplessly, feeling his shirt being ripped and looking up with watery eyes as the man above him revelled in his success. _//Help… please… I'd do anything… someone save me, please… *please*…// _

And indeed someone came to his rescue.

The eyes of the man directly above him widened, and his head lolled first to one side, then to the other, before he fell face first on the mud, his arms loosening the vice-like hold they had of Ken's shoulders. His companions, startled, let go of Ken's arms and knees, so that he was free to curl into a ball of fright and weep. In front of his eyes, a flicker of silver flashed, and another one of his attacker was suddenly on the ground, a sword in his throat. The third one, scared, tried to use Ken as a cover, pushing him toward whoever was seeding justice through the ruins; but he failed, and watched helplessly as Ken was gently held, briefly rocked and then left free to kneel on the ground, before the third attacker too was send to meet his companion in the afterlife.

Sobbing, Ken covered his face to shield his eyes from the bloody show of killing skills played in front of them. After few moments, he dared looking up, vision blurred and breathing jagged. Blinking, Ken managed to clear his vision and focused briefly on his dead attackers, swallowing painfully.

Then, he saw the figure.

Slender - but not as much as he was - and muscular young boy with a tangled, spiky shock of burgundy hair appealingly tinged with red. Under his armour, his shirt was of a incredibly pristine white, while his spotted, rudimental breastplate was vivid blue at the top and rusty red the bottom, the colours separated by a pattern of what seemed yellow flames.

There was something about the young warrior that made Ken's breath caught. This encounter was special somehow, but Ken couldn't understand why. Part of him wanted to go to this stranger and gaze into the eyes he knew would be cinnamon-hued and bottomless. The other part of him wanted to run away, scared.

And when the boy turned toward him, handsome and dirty, for a moment Ken's fear was overcame by blinding, undeniable attraction; and the purple haired boy had to hold his breath and bit his bottom lip to prevent a strangled cry to escape him. God… that boy was… exquisite. Ken could feel his cheeks heating up quickly, all the blood in his body rushing toward his face to make it glow neon in the near darkness.

The mahogany haired young man approached him, smirking as he noticed Ken's soft blush. One of his strong hands streamed through the mane of wild spikes as if trying to tame them, and Ken felt his blush renew. When the two where one in front of the other, the warrior knelt down, and watched the trembling boy for a moment, then smirked. And Ken couldn't help but cry in alarm, clawing hysterically at the hands now curled around his arms. Even though, truth must be said, the blush was still strong on his face.

"No! stay away! Spare me, please!"

"What the fuck?!" the warrior spat out, trying to hold Ken still and at the same time to evade the nails trying to scratch his face. "I just saved you, genius! Why would I hurt you, now?! Calm down!"

"Daisuke?" As the call reached their ears, both Ken and the young warrior stopped struggling. The latter had a good hold of Ken's wrists now, and used it to lower Ken's arms and block them to the purple haired boy's sides, before smiling at him gently and experimentally letting him go. When Ken didn't move, the other boy grinned openly and turned toward the source of the call.

"Nee, Takeru, whaddya want?" The blonde boy jogged up to Daisuke's side, while the considerably shorter boy next to him paused to pick up a spear from one of the corpses. When he was done cleaning the weapon, the brunette too reached his other two friends, blinking cluelessly at the purple haired stranger who was still crying silently on the ground.

"Who is he?" The brunette asked the blonde, who shrugged, crouching in front of Ken.

"Dunno." Takeru admitted, and then proceeded on trying to slid Ken's ripped jacket off him, only to be slapped right across his face. "Why, you little--" The blonde roared, hands all but clutching his sword's handle. Whimpering, Ken cowered helplessly, and soon found himself enveloped in the arms of the mahogany haired warrior.

"Lay off, Takeru." Daisuke ordered hotly, his harsh words a strong contrast with the way he was lulling Ken gently. "Give him space to breathe, will you?"

"Whatever." The blonde shrugged, and proceeded on stomping toward the site his older brother was currently scanning for good weapons to take. The other boy nodded politely to Daisuke, his action earning him a grin.

"You know Takeru." The brunette muttered, bending down to pick up yet another spear. "Always acts before thinking. Obviously this fellow here is still scared and – damn this is useless." He muttered darkly, throwing the damaged weapon as far as he could across the battlefield.

"Don't worry Iori." Daisuke's grin just grew bigger. "It's all too known how much of a idiot Takeru is."

"I'm *not* deaf!" Came the admonishment from an unidentified spot behind Iori, and this time Daisuke couldn't bite back a full laugh, arms still caressing Ken's sides gently.

"Never thought you were." Daisuke assured, before another voice distracted him from his favourite pastime. "Whatcha want, Taichi?"

"Ehm, Daisuke, not to complain or anything but--- those three… don't they seem part Oikawa's crew to you?" Taichi asked, examining carefully the symbols adorning Ken's attacker's clothes and armours. Craning his neck to peer at the corpses above Ken's head Daisuke shrugged, nodding casually.

"Yes, the probably are. So what?" At Taichi's side, another blonde boy, a little older than Takeru, shrieked outrageously.

"So what?! Daisuke, do you realize what big a mess you put us in killing these-these-these…"

"Bastards." Daisuke provided, squinting his eyes and holding Ken – who was starting to feel strangely drowsy and comfortable in the boy's arms- even closer, startling and waking him up a bit. "Yamato, we shouldn't be scared of such bloody asses." Shaking his head, Yamato rose to his feet, dusting himself off carefully, obviously trying to evade an argument.

At the blonde's side, Taichi too rose to his feet and –jerking his thumb behind his shoulders- gave his leader a malicious grin.

"Their cart is down there, Daisuke. Thought you wanted to know." Smirking back just as maliciously, Daisuke began to move on his feet, gently guiding Ken up with him.

"Cool. Let's take it and bring it back with us." Then, turning to an unmoving Ken, he curled his fingers around the slender boy's wrist, making him hold his breath in another rush of fear. "C'mon, are you planning to stay there a lot longer? We've to move."

"Daisuke!" Takeru cried out, helping Iori hoist the spears they'd collected on the cart. "Do you want to bring him with us?!" Frowning, Daisuke shrugged, pulling Ken close to his chest with a rough pull.

"Of *course* I want to! Hell, I'm the one that found him, am I not?!" shaking his head, Takeru went back to his work, while Taichi and Yamato sniggered and proceeded on taking their position to pull the cart forward.

Carefully, Daisuke moved toward them and helped Ken up, silently making sure he was comfortable, before climbing up and sitting down next to him, signalling Takeru and Iori to start pushing the vehicle.

"It's *heavy*, you know?" Takeru groaned.

"But it's full of rice and weapons! Yuhuuuu!" Taichi cheered from his position.

"They must have attacked another village." Daisuke noted on a darker tone.

"Still, we needed this rice." Taichi pointed, and Daisuke nodded slowly, unaware of Ken's huge eyes fixed on his amber face.

Grunting to himself, the mahogany haired warrior reclined back, closing his eyes in a fit of rage.

"Those ugly bastards don't give a damn about human lives." At his side, Ken whimpered, rubbing his arms actively against the sudden cold overwhelming him.

"Where… are we?" He asked quietly, whimpering at the scared tone his voice held. Cracking one eyes open, Daisuke fixed one inquiring orb of melted brown on him.

"Uh?"

"Where… exactly… are we, now?" At that, Daisuke gave his shoulders a small shrug.

"On a cart, couldn't you tell?" Whimpering yet again, Ken shook his head and doubled his efforts to warm himself up.

"No, I--- I mean… what time…?" Daisuke opened both eyes this time, raising an eyebrow at the weird boy next to him.

"Are you blind or what? Can't you see it's the sunset, genius?"

In a sudden rush of rage, Ken whipped around, tears-streaks still wet and glittering on a face where several huge spots of mud were barely able to cover a delicious blush.

"Enough with this madness!" He shrieked, blinking back a round of fresh tears and standing up abruptly, whipping back around so not to have to stare into those incredibly brown eyes of Daisuke's another minute. "Let me go! That's it, I'm getting off! I must go back home and---" Ken couldn't finish that one of the wheels of the cart hit a rock, making the whole vehicle tremble and quake for a moment. It wasn't much, but it was enough to make the already shaken boy lose his equilibrium and start his fall toward the ground.

Eyes huge, Ken let out a little cry. Then, next thing he knew, his face was pressed against Daisuke's chest, his tanned arm strong around his shoulders, while slender and yet powerful fingers tugged at his wrist.

"What are you? Mad?" Daisuke screamed in rage, yet hugging Ken comfortingly, letting him lean his head on his shoulder. "Stop squirming, or you'll end up hurting yourself!" Something in the boy's voice made the fading blush return full force to Ken's face, who could just hide his face in the hollow of Daisuke's neck, so gently presented to Ken just to let him hide. Then, something else caught Ken's attention and his eyes sprung wide for a moment, focusing on the silvery bell attached to Daisuke's breastplate.

It was giggling contently, gently, and yet the sound made Ken shiver.

_//A bell…//_ Sensing the other boy shiver, Daisuke shifted and allowed Ken to sank closer to him. Letting the boy's wrist go, Daisuke settled for just caressing his palm gently, the arm that was supporting Ken guiding him closer. Sighing, and yet again blushing, Ken leaned into Daisuke's warmth, unquestioningly and as mad as it could sound, trustingly.

* * * * *

It didn't take much for them to reach the village, and when that happened, it was swallowing down a disappointed moan that Ken felt Daisuke's arms move from around his shaking body. Voices began filling the air, all of them whispering excitedly, "Daisuke" or "Daisuke's back!" Shivering, and still trying to get rid of the unappreciated tremble by rubbing his arms actively, Ken looked around, eyes going wide with realization and shock as they run over the old rural costumes, the wooden huts, the rudimental weapons and the scattered roads.

_//The 16th century?// _He shivered. _//During the civil war?// _

He was startled out his reverie, though, when he heard Daisuke laugh. Blinking up at him, Ken saw Daisuke jump off the cart and give Taichi and Yamato each a pat on their shoulders before turning his attention back to him, smiling a somewhat goofy, somewhat warm smile that made Ken's knees buckle despite his growing worry.

He was saved from further embarrassment though, when a relatively old man limped toward them, eyeing Daisuke suspiciously.

"You're back." He said simply, and just as simply Daisuke replied, once he'd turned around, "Of course, father. I always do, don't I?" and with that he winked at the old man, before turning back around and helping Ken off the cart. "You can't get rid of me so easily. A simple clash can't possibly kill me." At this, the man behind him rolled his eyes, but did it good-naturally.

It was with far more distrust though, that they burned with once they were aligned on Ken.

"What's *that*?"

"Who *is* this *boy*, you mean?" Daisuke shoot back, mildly enraged by his father's display of bad manners. Then he paused, turning toward Ken with huge eyes. "You know? I haven't asked you your name, yet." Finding it difficult to breath, and not sure if that was for the fear still clinging to his heart of for the way Daisuke's hand was rubbing his back, Ken managed a small nod.

"K-Ken." He uttered at last. Daisuke grinned, repeating Ken's name as if trying to taste it. Then, he moved closer, bringing their faces few inches apart, and then – after studying Ken's blushing features for a minutes – snapped around, for someone was calling him.

"Daisuke!" A dark-haired child no older than six was scuttling toward the two of them, looking extremely composed even in his rush. His modest kimono swayed, spotted and tore in more than one point, as he approached, a smile tugging up his pale lips. Holding out his arms in a mute plea for Daisuke to hold him, the child moved closer, midnight blue eyes burning with barely tamed happiness and pale features burning with a barely tamed blush.

"Kenichitaro!" Daisuke shouted, grinning widely, and let go of Ken in a sudden rush, so that the boy felt suddenly cold and scared again. In a moment of madness, he found himself whishing *desperately* for Daisuke's hands to be on him once again.

Anywhere.

Everywhere.

Soon.

Unaware of Ken's swirling thoughts and of the way the purple haired boy had to shook his head to banish them, Daisuke kneeled in front of the child and ruffled his hair gently. Then, he hid his face in the kid's hair as the little one moved to enclose him in an almost comical resemblance of a hug.

"Have you been a good child?" Daisuke inquired with a grin when he pulled away, his fingers already disentangling the knot that secured the bell to his armour. The child nodded fervently in response, smiling gently up at the one he obviously looked up to and loved more than anything. Returning the grin, Daisuke placed the silver bell in the kid's palm, closing his fingers around it. "Then, this is a gift for you."

Trembling with happiness, Kenichitaro inhaled deeply, and blushed even more, clutching the bell to his chest as if it were his lifeline. But, as he moved, the bell began tinkling, and Ken found himself reeling back, shivering yet again as the bell filled his ears with thunder.

The bell was tinkling.

The bell was tinkling.

The bell was tinkling.

------- End of chapter 01.

**_*PDE* Review? 8)_**


	2. Chapter 02 - Gravity of Love

**A/N= Long… **

**A/N 2= *blinks* Re-read fics for editing? What's that? *blinks* Seriously, I didn't re-read this properly because I wanted to share! Beware of grammatical mistakes popping up here and there! =D **

**Disclaimer = Digimon and Hono Tripper, their characters and concepts are not mine, but belong to the right owners. The title of this chapter was inspired by one of Enigma's songs: "Gravity of Love" **

**Couples = *dances* Daiken/Kensuke! And some blink-and-you'll-miss-them kind of hints of Taito and Takori romance/friendship. **

**Warning = R, maybe bordering to NC-17, and NOT for death and blood. *winkswinks* limey scented scene ahead, minna-san! Enjoy!! **

**Enjoy, minna! And pu-lease, review!!! You'll make a fanfic author happy!!! -^^- **

Hono Tripper 

**_Chapter 02 – Gravity of Love _**

**__**

Usually, when the male members of the clan reunited in the square around which the village expanded, it was to celebrate a glad event, like welcoming a newborn in their village, but tonight things were highly different. It was easy to tell how tonight the men were discussing something highly unpleasant, if you were to look at the tired expression the elders wore; and listening to the insistent buzz hovering above the audience sitting as if to draw an imprecise circle around the plaza, you would often caught the words "death", "killed" and "doomed" resound with a tone of impending terror.

Clearing his throat, the chief of the village limped on tired legs to the middle of the plaza, managing to hush all whispers at once without even speaking. In the flickering light of the immense fire, the man spoke. As slow as any other time; meditating on each word and surveying his people's reaction with keen eyes as he did.

"And those were the motivations that lead us to the decision to build a fence around the village. Any objection?" whispers and mutters rose from his audience, like the sound of billionths bees gathered.

Finally, Taichi pulled his bowl of rice away from his mouth long enough to ask, "Are you sure Oikawa's gonna attack our village, chief?"

"Sure thing." The man replied, turning icy blue eyes to Daisuke. "And it's all your fault, Daisuke, I hope you realize that." The boy arched an eyebrow, and paused sipping his sakè for a moment. "Taking those bandits' spoil wasn't clever, you know?" Immediately after it escaped the chief's lips, the statement was followed by low mutters of agreement.

"Nee, Daisuke." One of the elders spat, swallowing when a pair of ginger-brown eyes aligned on him over the rim of a bowl of liquor. "You acted exactly like on of *them* would have."

"Yeah," the man next to him agreed. "You're supposed to be the *protector* of this village."

"No one-" another man piped up. "-asked you to become a thief."

Slowly, Daisuke took another sip of his sake, very well aware of the dozens of eyes placed nervously on him. Finally, he roughly lowered his hand, drops of liquor raining the heap of wood he was crouched upon.

"What the hell are you talking about?" He spat, annoyed, before pausing to taste again the clear liquid in his bowl. "You all live a good life thanks to the things *we*-" Daisuke glanced over the Elders in front of him, a smirk curving his lips, a glint in his eyes; and then turned to his comrades, his eyes softening briefly as they met theirs. "-are able to bring back from the battlefields. You're nothing better than those crooks." Low murmurs answered him, and Daisuke was pleased to see how no one could deny he was right.

At last, he returned to his sake, and cracked one eye open to look at his father when the man cleared his throat quite loudly.

"Anyway—we have no way to change what you did today. And we'll have to bear with the consequences. " Daisuke shrugged.

"Don't worry, I'm gonna take good care of Ken. You won't ever have to worry about him and his health, since I'm gonna give him anything he might need." And with that he threw his empty bowl to Takeru, before leaping down his arranged seat with all the feline agility of a cat; then, yawning, Daisuke stomped toward his private hut stretching theatrically.

Behind him, his father blinked.

"Daisuke! Hell--- that's not what I was talking about! Daisuke! Daisuke! Answer me when I talk to you! Daisuke!!!" But – like any other time he'd had a discussion with his oldest son- only silence answered him, making barely subdued chuckles raise from his surroundings. The man sighed, rubbing actively at his forehead. "Couldn't I have only one son…?"

* * * * *

As always, while the men reunited in the court to discuss the village's future, to weight the warfare, and just to drink themselves to sleep, the women had gathered in a single hut, the biggest of the whole town, gossiping about the little that had happened during the day in such a small village. Forgotten in a corner, Ken tried to block their voices out, hoping beyond reason that if he did, then they would disappear and he would be back home.

Shifting a bit, the purple-haired boy dared opening his eyes and looked at the women warily, gripping his arms tighter around his legs. Sighing, he turned around to lay his head against the wooden wall, and the noise his action produced made a young lavender-haired girl look up at him with curious eyes.

Somehow, the utterly mundane quality an act like that – reuniting to chat while the men got drunk – held, hadn't provided the women with enough spirit to spot and recognize what was about the become the source of the best gossips of their lives. But, as the girl's orangey eyes feel on Ken, she was able too see past his ripped clothes and muddy face to the almost endless number of nights of good gossiping he could provide them.

"Who's that boy?" The girl pointed a slender finger in Ken's direction, a grin on her face, and the boy did his best not to squirm when all conversation stopped abruptly and all the women turned to look into the dark corner of the hut. From their post all that was visible were shiny purple eyes set in a face that was easy to define as 'snowy' even though traces of dried mud, blood and tears were marring the otherwise pristine visage.

"I've never seen him before." One said carefully. The brown woman next to her shrugged, not stopping to comb her daughter's hair.

"Daisuke--" she said with an excitation that didn't go unnoticed by the other women. "-brought him here today!" In front of her, a younger woman shrugged, not seeing why most of the others had started giggling and whispering conspiratorially.

"He wears such strange clothes…" she murmured somewhat pensively, weighting Ken's aspect from her spot near the fireplace.

"Such bad taste!" Another, even younger, woman wiggled her nose, absentmindedly repairing a tear in the fabric of a old kimono. As the two continued talking--one was arguing about how terrible it was to pair grey clothes with purple hair--Ken had crawled a few inches away.

Ever since Daisuke had lead him to his village, Ken had been sitting in that same spot as if in a daze, unsure of what to do next. The possibility of being somehow in the 16th century was not appealing at all, nevertheless, Ken had to admit nothing akin to this village could exist in his era. Not to mention how – if a place remained untouched by the flowing of time existed- he had managed to reach it by only losing consciousness. So, the more logical and yet illogical explanation Ken could find was that the explosion had somehow pulled the trigger of a mechanism that had sent him voyaging back wards through time.

"I'm TELLING you, Kyoko!" One of the two women squeaked. "Purple looks better if paired with white!"

"Don't be ridiculous, Keiko…" the other answered, "What's the difference between white and grey? Why can't he wear grey?" Ken shook his head slowly, sighing inwardly; he wasn't used to uncertainty. He was used to analyse things with as much coldness as he could muster, to find as quick as possible the best solution to whatever problem presented itself to him. Now... now he just felt lost.

"What can I do, now?", the murmured words slid past Ken's lips, startling himself out of his own thoughts. He came back to terra firma just in time to heard the women conclude that yes, maybe grey and purple weren't the best colours to pair off, but the combination didn't look back on *him*. Humourlessly, Ken snarled, rubbing at his eyes with the back of his hand.

_ //I want to go home…// _He sighed, sounding childish even to himself.

The brown haired woman from before shrugged when her two friends ended their argument, her lips turning up in a malicious smile.

"I agree. And surely, Daisuke does too. It's obvious he does. A lot, I'd say." Revealed the woman, her eyes closed and lips curved up into a wide smirk, the dark wooden brush in her hand shifting upwards to scratch directly behind her daughter's left ear.

"Ouch!"

A lot of "oooh"s and "aaaah"s followed the statement, and the woman positively basked in all the attention she was receiving.

"Why, what did he say?"

"What happened?"

"Did he say something?"

"Something we should know?" Then, slowly, as Daisuke's name was mentioned another couple of times, the focus of the gossipers was all but diverged to the young man, the brown-haired woman and her fresh rumour all but forgotten in order to list their protector's qualities. Again Ken grumbled with annoyance, but it felt wrong to do that with his cheeks tinged with red.

"Such a courageous man, he is." One brown-haired, golden-eyed young girl sighed, echoed immediately by what even an untrained eye could tell to be her best friend, if nothing more.

"So loyal." The lavender haired girl whispered back, letting loose another dreamy sigh.

"So strong." Another one said, blushing as she hid her face behind her bowl of rice.

"So handsome." An older woman chuckled. "I'd marry him immediately, if he asked me."

"Hisago." The brown-haired gossiper said, pulling at her daughter's hair a little too strongly and earning a low cry. "You're twenty years older than him-" all the women intoned a giggle. "-and you're already married. And then again--" the woman paused for a dramatic effect that gained her once again all the attention. "I know something he said…"

All the women hurried to crawl closer, eyes wide and lips uttering endless questions. Questions the woman was glad to answer if they meant some minutes of glory for her.

"Well, you see…"

Snarling under is breath, Ken turned around, closing his eyes and hoping for sleep to come and *free* him soon.

_ //I wonder… how could I voyage through time? Maybe an 'hole' opened… due to the explosion… maybe…// _something about his surroundings made Ken shiver, and the boy could swore he'd heard a bell tinkling. _//…it has been… the bell? But…// _

Shaking his head, Ken concluded he had heard no bell tinkling, and that no bell could have brought him there. Sighing, the distraught boy lowered his head to place his chin on his knees.

//_I want to go home.// _the thought came, unbidden, and Ken had to fight the urge to let tears stream down his cheeks freely. _//I want to have a bath… I want to lay back on my bed… // _shaking his head yet again, Ken sniffled, and closed his eyes, previously left -half-lidded and unseeing- aligned on a dark spot on the floor. _//When I wake up…// _He thought hopefully when sleep forced his eyes to close, his brain to stop rummaging in search of a solution, and his breath to slow down. _//I'll be back in my own time…// _

_ //…or so I hope…// _

* * * * *

When Ken woke up the next morning, it was to the sound of men working mixed with the flirtatious laughter of young women – which was very difficult to hear on the 20th floor of a building in the middle of Tamachi. Sunlight was burning his eyelids – which felt even stranger – and when Ken finally forced himself to his knees, it was to crawl on all fours to what seemed a wooden, sliding door and open it carefully to reveal…

…dozens of men working to build up what seemed a fence around the perimeter of a 16th century-looking village. Biting his bottom lip in despair, Ken let his head drop, too worn out to even cry. Then, the cheery voice came, and Ken's head snapped up in shock and confusion.

"Hi!" The boy squealed happily as he tiptoed closer, his every move punctuated by a giggle from the silvery bell hanging at his waist.

Ken watched the kid with haunted eyes for a few moments, and the nodded, greeting him with a weak, "Hello…"

Unaffected by Ken's obvious depression, the child skipped closer, his movements strangely fluid for a kid his age, and gave his head a slight toss, moving a lock of dark hair from across his forehead.

"You're the one that will become my brother's consort, aren't you?"

Mastering just enough force to blink, Ken did exactly so, twice, and then ventured to ask timidly, "What?" Giggling, the dark-haired child moved closer and smiled brightly to Ken.

"My brother says he wants to marry you. Dad's not that happy about it, but he won't stop him either."

"Are you…" Ken licked his lips, shifting to move his legs from behind him and sit back on his heels. "…Daisuke's brother?" At this the kid let out a small giggle, and posed for Ken, showing him his lilac kimono as he swayed left and right.

"Yes. My name's Kenichitaro! And I want to marry Daisuke too once I grow up!" He squealed happily.

Ken was on the verge of replying something, when the person he least wanted to see and yet made his heart do something indescribable inside his chest when their eyes met, came strolling towards them, a scowl on his bronzed face.

"Oh, you're already up. I was wondering if you were still asleep."

"Oh! Daisuke…" Kenichitaro chirped, but ignoring his brother Daisuke marched right over to Ken, and clipping the purple haired boy's chin in two fingers, held his head up, making their eyes meet.

Ken frowned, and even though it took him every ounce of his willpower, he managed not to blush, and to hold up the staring contest. Soon enough, Daisuke's face broke into a grin, and Ken found himself being dragged forward by his wrist.

"Perfect. Come with me."

"Wait…" Ken protested dimly. "What are you…" Then, suddenly, he was forced to stop, and his face was pulled in a pool of the iciest water he'd ever felt.

Between mouthfuls of water, Ken managed a protest, but Daisuke ignored him, rubbing Ken's face harshly with a piece of cloth. Realizing he'd better close his mouth if he didn't want to drown in few inches of water, Ken was soon spared the embarrassing torture, and hauled backward to seat on the ground. A dry clothe was then wiping gently at his face, and when Ken cracked his eyes open, Daisuke was there, face inches from his own, and pinning him there by cupping his chin in a far more gentle fashion than before.

The two just started at each other, mutely, and then Daisuke grinned again, making the hair on the back of Ken's neck rise to attention.

"Just as I thought." A satisfied sound scarped out his throat. "You look a whole deal cuter with your face clean." Then, without a word, Daisuke stood up, pulling Ken with him, and dragged the slightly shaken boy toward what seemed like a huge magazine.

"Now, let's find something more appropriate you could wear." His heart skipping a beat, Ken let Daisuke drag him forward, incapable to summon the force to stop the other boy.

_ //He wants to marry me! He really wants to marry *me*! Oh, God…// _

Oblivious, Daisuke slid the storehouse's door open, and impatiently led a shocked Ken inside. Looking around at the heaps of clothes filling the fair huge magazine, Ken became immediately aware of the poor state his uniform jacket – tore and spotted – was, and proceeded on getting rid of it with a small grimace, taking care to straighten his shirt once he'd let the ripped garment pool at his feet.

Shooting Ken an appreciative glance, Daisuke began rummaging through the incredible amount of clothing gathered there, showering Ken – who was still looking around with shock – with a rain of the most disparate pieces of clothes you could imagine.

"We've *tons* of clothes, here. Take what you like the most." He explained without even turning around.

"How come you have such an high number of pieces of clothes, here?" Ken asked while picking up a purple kimono.

"We didn't steal them!" Daisuke frowned, and immediately turned around, ready to defend his honour. Then, noticing how Ken kept moving from a kimono to another, he dropped silent.

Focusing first on a purple kimono (like his eyes) and then to a dull grey one (like his lost uniform) Ken finally decided to check how a snowy white one (Hadn't those women said white and purple is the perfect combination, after all?) looked on him by placing it on his chest and looking down at himself.

_ //White kimono… like the ones the tradition says to use when wedding…//_

Flushing, Ken let the kimono drop, and sank his hands once again in the heap of clothes, hoping his blush wasn't as obvious as it felt like. Blinking, Daisuke turned around, shrugging almost unnoticeably.

"We just slid them off some corpses on the battlefield." Abruptly, Ken whipped around, staring at Daisuke with wide eyes.

"Corpses…?" He muttered. Then, at the top of his lungs he yelled, "NO!" and dropped whatever clothe he was holding, all the while retreating backward as if victim of a fit of convulsions. Daisuke blinked at him, wondering once again what was wrong with this odd boy. He was appealing yes, but *odd*.

Noticing Daisuke's insistent eyes on him, Ken wrapped his arms around his torso and turned away, peering at the other boy from above his shoulders.

"I'm *not* wearing something you slid off a *cadaver*!"

"What?"

"Well, you might have no problems with it, but I…"

Ken's speech screeched to an abrupt halt when his eyes fell on something pooled just next to Daisuke's feet, and for a moment the sun-kissed boy panicked, noticing Ken's pale features fading to a worrying, deathlike pallor. Daisuke raised a hand toward Ken, and was about to ask him what was wrong, his bronzed face too gaining a pallid quality due to his worry. But he had no time to do so though, since Ken leapt forward, grabbing with shaking fingers the object of his nervousness.

"This shirt!" He all but yelled, clutching a minute purple shirt with a white-yellow band in the middle to his chest. There was no way he could mistake *that* shirt. It was his favourite, Ken himself had brought him to him for his birthday. "This shirt… this shirt is Daiku's!" He cried, feeling tears of dread gathering in his eyes. For a moment, Ken did nothing but tremble, then, as the strength of worry sank upon in, he whipped around, eyes blazing. "How can *you* have it? Where did you take it? Where is *him*?"

Blinking, and with his faint pallor all but gone, Daisuke took a step closer, actually wondering if Ken was about to leap at him and *hurt* him, with eyes like *that*. In truth, anyone else in his position would have retreated, for Ken all but looked like a lion – or better yet a lion whose cub was in danger. Eyes blazing, teeth bared in a grimace of anger, the usually fair-looking boy was now very, *very* intimidating.

"Uh?" the bronze-skinned boy muttered incoherently, and that just brought Ken's distress to upper levels. But, strangely enough, that made him cool down, and quivering anxiety took place of his previous, amiss anger. In fact, it was on trembling legs that he scuttled closer to Daisuke, holding the shirt for the other boy to take a look at it.

"This shirt… a little boy wore it…" he pleaded gently, leaning into Daisuke as the boy grasped the border of the purplish shirt and rubbed it pensively with one hand, the other immediately going around Ken for support. A wave of security washed over Ken as he nuzzled his face in the hollow of Daisuke's neck, sighing brokenly. He flinched slightly when he felt Daisuke's arm move from around him, but he soon was sighing gently, for Daisuke's arm had merely moved to let him sink closer before sneaking around his waist. 

"I don't know… I never saw it before." Daisuke said at last. "I'm not the one that took it, and that's strange. I mean--" abruptly Ken stood, and Daisuke blinked up at him, marvelling why he had retreated from the warmth they had created.

"Ken?"

"Daiku… Daiku must have made it through the hole with me! I've to find him!" He hollered, and then, giving Daisuke no time to wonder about his words, whipped around and began to run. It was impossible, though, to overpower Daisuke when it came down to agility. His well-trained muscles were far too agile for Ken to escape him, and far too strong for the struggling boy to free himself once he found himself pinned against Daisuke's chest. Ken tried to free him from Daisuke's grasp, but he didn't let go.

"Ken! Ken—dammit! What's wrong?!" Ken struggled madly, pummelling Daisuke's shoulders with all the force he could muster – and it shouldn't have been much since Daisuke didn't even flinch, but just tightened his hold and yanked Ken closer.

"Daiku!" the purple haired boy shirked incoherently. "You don't know! I was supposed to protect him! He must be searching for me, he must be so scared! And I should have protected him, but I lost him!" Ken felt tears coming to his eyes, but he concentrated on trying to struggle free.

Frowning, Daisuke squeezed Ken's waist a little harder, pinning their bodies one against the other; and when the other boy gasped, arching against him and stopping suddenly every kind of struggle, Daisuke seized the moment to ask further.

"Ken, who's this Daiku? What happened?"

"Daisuke…" Ken sobbed quietly, refusing to surrender to tears and yet feeling burning moisture gathering at the corner of his eyes. "He's my friend… he's nothing but a little child, and he must be somewhere around here, alone… scared… searching for me… I'm the only one he has, Daisuke… please…" Ken paused to sniffle a bit, and Daisuke loosened his hold, reaching up to pat Ken's hair, still wet and messy after their fight.

"Ken, I…" Sniffling yet again, Ken looked up, and a shiver ran down Daisuke's spine as glassy purple met concerned russet brown.

"Ken, I…" Licking his lips, Daisuke tested his voice, only it discover it had gotten lost somewhere inside his chest and wasn't willing to find its way up anytime soon. He couldn't. He couldn't possibly say 'no' to those unbelievable purple eyes of his. It *pained* him to see them so hurting. It *pained* him to have the possibility to clear those eyes of any trace of pain and yet to be unable to take it. Ashamed, Daisuke looked away, leaving his words hanging.

He couldn't even find an excuse. He couldn't *even* face Ken. The great warrior, the protector of his village was loosing all his strength in front of the threat of seeing tears in Ken's eyes. And he felt ashamed for that; Terribly foolish; unbelievably so. He was tempted to put Ken's happiness above his own life and his village's welfare.

Unacceptable.

Daisuke *knew* it was perilous to venture in the ruined battlefield alone, just as much as he *knew* he couldn't risk taking anyone else with them. For once, it wasn't safe to wander in large groups in a zone that offered pretty much no shelter at all; secondly, he couldn't leave the village unprotected. But Ken… Daisuke *knew* he couldn't possibly let Ken down either.

It was strange the bond that he felt existed between them, but not in an unpleasant way. It was incredibly thrilling to be able to hold Ken and caress him, combing his silky purple hair with caring fingers. And it excited Daisuke to no end the simple *prospective* of making him smile. But somehow it worried Daisuke that he longed *so much* someone's happiness.

Sighing, Daisuke risked a look at Ken. The boy with the amethyst eyes sniffled, and then caught Daisuke's eyes with pleading force. The amethyst orbs were darker than ever, so deep and shiny Daisuke had to swallow several times not to lose control. Daisuke looked at him as if in trance for a moment and then dropped his eyes to the point where their chests touched. He felt *helpless* and it was more than mildly frustrating to feel that way.

When he felt a gentle grip take his hand, Daisuke found himself meeting Ken's eyes again. Daisuke stared down at the swaying lakes of indigo for a long moment, neither of them moving from the spot in the street.

"Daisuke please… take me where you found me yesterday… *please*…" Ken whispered, and his grip tightened on Daisuke's hand.

The note of desperation trembling in Ken's voice didn't go unnoticed by Daisuke, but no matter how he wanted to help Ken, not matter how he wanted to tame this distraught angel's pain, he couldn't possibly forget his duty as a protector of the village to guide him in that eerie place. So, still combing Ken's hair with gentle fingers, he just sighed.

"Ken… I can't. There's nothing in that place that would justify it if I went there. It's dangerous and I…"

"I'll go there alone, if you don't want to help me!" Again, Daisuke sighed, shaking his head slowly.

"Ken, if you go there alone, Oikawa's men will surely kill you."

"I don't care! Daiku's going to die if I don't find him *now*!" Suddenly, Ken struggled free from Daisuke's arms. His eyes met Daisuke's briefly before he turned away and ran out of the village and finally out of sight, but that split second was enough for Daisuke to see the unbidden pain reflected in those wounded purple eyes. The warrior watched Ken run away in total immobility for a minute or so before he a low "Damn…" escaped him.

* * * * *

Ken found himself wandering. That was nothing new, considering how he had taken the habitude, when the weather permitted it, to walk with no destination across Tamachi in search of nothing but quietude. That evening it was different though, because there was something else Ken was searching; something utterly and completely different from still quietude was what he hoped to find.

His aim was to ear the giggle of a child.

But the only sounds in the quickly darkening air were the soft swishing of his hair flicking against his cheeks, the rustle of his uniform as he scuffed his feet along the ground, and the bristly noise of the rocks and leaves cracking under his weight.

"Daiku!" He called for the umpteenth time that day, and only the wind answered him. Discouraged, Ken let his hands drop at his sides, doing his best to banish his fear from his heart.

"I don't understand." Daisuke muttered at his side, raising one hand to stop the hair danced across his forehead by the wind. "There isn't any kid, here."

"He must be here…" Ken muttered, his voice reduced to a whisper Ken himself could barely recognize as his. "He *must*…" Squinting at the bodies laying scattered around them, Daisuke shook his head, slowly.

"Look around, Ken. These are all adults. There are not dead children--"

"Daiku's alive!" Ken shrieked.

Even if Daisuke was hurt and surprised that the purple haired boy was yelling at him with so much rage, he was actually *glad* Ken had talked. Other than to scream Daiku's name pleadingly, he had said almost nothing, and that had brought another wave of concern inside Daisuke heart.

And if there was something Daisuke just couldn't stand, was too see someone he cared for in distress. So, rubbing his forehead harshly, Daisuke strolled after Ken, following the strangled calls the other boy let out from time to time.

"Daiku! Daiku!"

* * * * *

The noon sun was at full height when Ken stopped moving, dropping his gaze to the ground with a resigned sigh. Jogging up at his side, Daisuke grinned, rubbing Ken's shoulder gently.

"Are we stopping to eat something Ken? I don't know you, but I'm starv--" Roughly, Ken freed himself from Daisuke's touch, whipping around to glare at the other boy from over his shoulders.

"No! We're *not* stopping! I'm not hungry at all! If you want you can go---" But now it was Ken's time to be interrupted loudly, only, it was the embarrassing noise of his stomach protesting that stopped him. Placing both hands over his belly with an embarrassed blush, Ken looked up at Daisuke through his eyelashes, and found the warrior with the russet hair grinning at him.

"Are we going?"

The chosen place to take a rest was small clearing they boys had stumbled upon few minutes before. Daisuke lost no time in settling in the pale umbra of a burned tree, while Ken settled down as slowly as he could, feeling drained, and settled for looking around instead that at the still grinning boy next to him.

The place was not beautiful in a canonical way, nevertheless Ken found himself wondering why he hadn't noticed it when they first walked by. The field around them was –virtually- endless. Despite being a bed of burned grass, it was tinged of sweet pastel green that hinted hopefully at the emerald canvas it would turn to with the upcoming spring; and the gentle gurgling of the small river they were facing gave the place a romantic feeling that made Ken's cheeks tinge momentarily, before his distress overcame his embarrassment.

It was *highly* upsetting to have your stomach ignoring your fears and make its protests known *so* loud, and Ken just couldn't forgive himself for acting like an idiot in front of Daisuke. It wasn't his fault that he was hungry and couldn't conceal it despite all the distress he was under, but still… he didn't want to make a fool of himself in front of Daisuke. Having his… respect, having Daisuke liking him was strangely important to Ken.

Oblivious, Daisuke took a long draught of clear sake from a bamboo little flask, and then tossed it to Ken, effectively distracting him from his train of thoughts, and wiped his mouth with the back of one hand.

"Thirsty?" Ken looked at him strangely, clutching the little flask in a muddy hand. Daisuke looked back at the now blushing boy with an arched eyebrow, wondering for the umpteenth time how could a so appealing guy be so weird at times.

The reason for Ken's hesitance could be found in his current train of thoughts, and if Daisuke were to hear it, it would just cement his conviction that Ken was indeed *odd*. The cause of Ken's flaming blush was the prospective to place his lips where *Daisuke's* =DAISUKE'S!!= had been few moments before. Lowering eyes rendered glassy by the blush to the little flask in his hand, Ken felt his blush renew, and regarded the little item with odd pensiveness. His natural shyness combined with whatever feelings made him that uneasy near Daisuke, was now battling with his undeniable need for water.

_ //But-but-but… it would be like… kiss him indirectly… I mean…//_

As two parts of himself battle, Ken would let loose soft groans and moans; lick his lips; shake his head and blush intermittently, all the while looking pleadingly down at the flask. Say that Daisuke found it amusing doesn't even start to describe how the warrior felt. It was… *terribly entertaining*. He had to stop that, thought. He doubted acting like that was healthy, if not sane.

"Are you going to drink anytime soon?" At Daisuke's muttered urging Ken shook his head and brought the flask to his lips.

"I don't care!" he declared to his reflection in the water. "I'm thirsty!" But, before he could touch the little flask to his lips, he found his face pressed in the ground, Daisuke's body warm and heavy on his back.

"What the hell?!" Ken shrieked with burning outrage, whipping around to glare at the brown eyes few inches from his face.

"Shhh!" Daisuke urged him, slipping his arm around Ken waist to pin him more securely the purple haired boy against his own body. Then, Daisuke said something that didn't really register in Ken's mind, for the boy was too enchanted by Daisuke's eyes to care for his words.

Ken caught his breath, his heart racing, and figured there was more to that than the compromising position he and Daisuke were in, even if Ken couldn't help but notice it as he stared at Daisuke, taking him in with his eyes. Basking in the handsomeness of his countenance. He. Was. Basking. And soon found himself overcome by such proximity with the other boy, and thus sought a method through which to clear his clouded brain.

Looking at Daisuke's eyes had proved to be not the right answer to his dilemma.

Bottomless ginger brown eyes were staring intently in his own, and as Daisuke spoke countless flickers of gold rippled the otherwise smooth and glass surface of those pools of molten brown. Streaks of orange glittered along with the golden flickers to make the eyes all the more appealing, and Ken found himself breathless.

Ken knew those eyes.

Ken admired them.

Ken *loved* them.

Deeply.

Ken inhaled a deep, quivering breath, blinking at himself as he arched against Daisuke, instructing his hands to go and lay on Daisuke's shoulders. A satisfied nod moved Daisuke's head up and down as he took in Ken's change of position. Quickly, he reached down and touched his finger to Ken lips, trailing it down the purple-haired boy's cheek before pointing something ahead of them.

Foggily, Ken turned to stare at whatever Daisuke was asking him to see, and shivered, unconsciously moving closer to Daisuke in his fright.

A horseman was beating his steed to make it run across the valley as fast as it could, all the while scanning his surroundings with keen eyes. But was really caught Ken's eyes were the symbols embed in the man's clothes and amour, too similar to the one Ken's attacker had worn to stop him from shivering.

"He's a companion of those that attacked you yesterday. One of Oikawa's crew." Daisuke murmured huskily as Ken wrapped his arms around him, seeking shelter in the other boy's warmth.

"Is… is he… searching for them? The… ones you killed?" Ken asked, licking his lips.

"Probably." Daisuke muttered back, pressing both of them down harder on the wet ground in hope to remain unnoticed.

The innuendo laying in Daisuke's voice didn't go unnoticed by Ken: who that man was searching, could not be found anymore, for they had been killed.

To protect Ken.

It needn't a genius to figure who could have attacked and slew them. Therefore, Daisuke's village was in danger. And, Ken was horrified to admit, it was because of him.

* * * * *

As crazily as it may sound, the life in the village went on without other surprises for Ken. And the boy, despite his distress, fear and anxiety, began enjoying this new life he had been forced to have. Each morning he would wake up and go exploring ruined battlefields in search of Daiku, while Daisuke examined the corpses of his enemies for good weapons to bring back to the village.

Each noon the two of them would reach the river and stop to have a quick and modest lunch, during which Daisuke would do his best to cheer Ken up, and Ken would do his best to tame the blush caused by said efforts. Then, when nightfall approached, they would return to the village, Daisuke's hands filled with cleaned spears and Ken's eyes filled with frustrated tears.

Once there, they'd retreat into Ken's assigned small hut to have a quick dinner, and then they would part ways, sometimes after Daisuke had delivered Ken a small, chaste kiss of friendship on the forehead, only to meet the morning after for a rite that required no words anymore.

Rumours didn't waste time in being born though, and soon the women had their long-awaited, precious, new topic for their daily gossiping-time. But even if women had made gossiping about Ken and Daisuke their reason to live, there was hardly nobody in the village that wasn't commenting on the strangest courtship ever.

No one thought Daisuke was trying to help Ken out of kindness, and –no matter how much Daisuke denied- they thought the vibrant warrior was just trying to win the heart of an odd stranger with an equally odd tactic. Ken always refused to answer when asked about this unlikely courtship, and his silent behaviour, mixed with Daisuke's enraged denial, only served to fan the rumours, so that soon people started biding on the date of the couple's wedding.

The ones that –surprisingly- had more fun spreading and fuelling the rumours where the highest members of Daisuke's small band of soldiers. And that night –the fifth after Ken's arrival- Taichi, Yamato, Iori and Takeru were having more fun than they could explain mocking an easily enraging Daisuke.

The sound of laughter coming from the hut they where in resounded clear and high in the starry sky, texturing an amazing contrast with the sinister quietude that usually floated in the once prosperous town during the night. The dormant village wasn't disturbed by the suffused noise, though. In truth it was enjoying it, unlike Daisuke.

At the moment, the mahogany haired boy was sitting cross-legged on the smooth floorboards of the above-mentioned hut, frowning to the world like a little child.

"Shut up." He grumbled, his voice slightly muffled by the sake. He narrowed his eyes, gulping loudly the clear liquid. It burned as it flowed down his throat, but he stubbornly kept swallowing it, focusing on how the liquor seemed to draw his attention away from the teasing he was subject to. At his side, Takeru chuckled, prior to throwing his head backward in a full laugh.

"Seriously Dai…" He said slowly, leaning forward to steal the bottle of sake from Daisuke's darker hand. "Are you a chicken or what?" He chewed out as he lifted the bottle to his lips, pausing his speech to take a long draught. "You like him? Then, hell, *fuck* him." 

"Shut. Up." Daisuke hissed through gritted teeth, playing thoughtlessly with his empty rice bowl. "It's just… I don't think it's the right time… Ken's going mad looking for that kid and…" 

"That's shit, Dai." Taichi interrupted, a broad grin flashing in the ginger light of the fire. 

The cinnamon haired boy looked up from the floor with wary eyes, features settled in a frown as he readied himself to listen *calmly* to whatever Taichi had to say. 

"You're scared you won't be good enough at it, aren't you?" All the boys immediately started cackling and Daisuke clenched his fists hard enough to feel his nails break his skin. 

All a quiver with laughter, Taichi threw an arm around Yamato's shoulders, the laughing blonde wrapping his won arms around Taichi in search of support. The two younger boys were leaning against each other, shoulders raising and falling quickly as they expressed their amusement with a low chuckling. But at least Iori had the decency to mask his laughter with a cough when a growl crawled its way out of Daisuke's throat. 

The one around which all the laughter revolved around grunted quietly when no one else made any effort to stop cackling. So it was with flashing eyes that Daisuke grabbed the bottle of sake from Takeru's hands, using the other boy's moment of distraction to his favour.

"All ya do is thinking about *that*." Daisuke hollered hotly. "Whatcha think I'm?! An animal?! I'm different from ya all! I'm not a pervert *obsessed* with fucking, ya know?!" The caramel skinned boy angrily took a long swig of the delicious drink, swallowing and swallowing until he felt his insides burning, his lungs begging for air. 

Satisfied, Daisuke roughly moved the bottle away from his mouth, swiped at his moist lip and dripping chin with the heel of his hand and surveyed them all, a rush of drunk warmth coursing through him.

"I'm not like ya." He said, glaring at his friends with burning indignation. He rose on shaky legs slowly, moving toward the front door as steady as his feet could carry him, vision blurred and mind fogged by the alcohol. He paused to throw the sake's bottle –now empty- to Taichi, who promptly caught it.

"Where are you going, Daisuke?" Yamato called behind him, his mocking voice sugar-coated by the sake.

"Shu'up." Was all Daisuke's replied sickly before walking out in the coldness.

* * * * *

Inside the little hut, Ken was looking through the bars of the window to the moon above, finally getting used to the straw mattress. He even began to find to his liking what he couldn't even considered a bed just few days before. The purple-haired boy sighed softly, the motion carrying few pieces of straw to float in the air. Mutely, he looked at them sway in the eldritch light of the full moon, silently praying to be home soon.

Another sigh was ready to trust past his lips, but it died in his throat as the noise of his hut's sliding door opening reached his ear. Startled, the boy looked up, unconsciously letting out a sight of relief as Daisuke's spiky haired shape appeared in front of his eyes.

He was in the door way, his back pressed against one side of the entrance and one of his legs outstretched to keep the sliding door open. He nearly glistened in the silvery light, as he stood still, his eyes raking leisurely over Ken's body.

It was when their eyes finally meet that Ken began to feel slightly worried. Daisuke's auburn orbs where so dark that the pupils were almost invisible, just a flicker of glassy black in an ocean of bottomless shadowed auburn.

"…Daisuke…?" the purple haired boy called softly, raising to a seated position and bringing his sheets up to cover his chest, one fist balling around the grey cloth of his shirt.

Daisuke's eyes gleamed at the sound of Ken's voice, but his only reply was to move inside the hut, sliding the door close behind him and pressing his lower back against it, his trunk bent forward to take a close look at Ken's moonlit face.

"What… are you doing here, Daisuke?" Ken said with a smile, tipping his head to a side. He looked calm, but his voice was quivering in worry. "It's quite late and…"

He didn't get the chance to end his thought, for Daisuke's hands were around his waist and he was being pinned down to the floor.

"Oh, Ken… … … … …" Daisuke breathed as he laid his head on Ken's chest, rubbing his forehead against Ken's ivory neck with a kitten moan. The dark haired boy shot up, supporting his weight on his elbows, and looked down at the mass of cinnamon spikes over his chest with wide eyes.

"Daisuke! Wait!" He shrieked, but when the other boy looked up, what Ken saw in his eyes hushed him. They were hungrier, darker and more intense than ever, as dark as twilight and as burning as billionths of suns. Simply wonderful. Breathtaking, even.

"A'm shleepin' here to'ight." Daisuke said, his voice sounding funnily sticky.

"What do you mean?!" Ken's eyes went even huger, cold sweat forming on his forehead. He couldn't say anything more, thought, because Daisuke had tightened his grip around him, lowering both of them on the straw and using his weight to keep Ken in place.

Ken's heart skipped a beat as moist breath brushed against his ear, and when Daisuke hid his head in the crock of Ken's neck, his hips lowered over the purple haired boy's. Helpless, Ken craned his neck, parting his lips in the process, and sucked in a breath through clenched teeth. Both boys groaned at the contact, and Ken found himself shivering in both fear and anticipation.

//_Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. OH, MY GOD!!!!// _

His and Daisuke's chests bumped against one another as they heaved with jagged movements, and Ken's clouded mind barely managed to process the information that such brief contacts were very, *very* arousing.

Getting a bit of control over his body at last, Ken licked his lips, knowing he *had* to do, or at least say, something. And the chance to move was offered him when Daisuke repeated his intention to spend the night with him with a faltering voice, one muffled by the liquor.

"My God, Daisuke, you're =drunk=!" Ken shrieked as he tried to crawl away from Daisuke's delicious warmth, wincing at the stupidity of his statement, fighting to keep his hips anchored to the ground and not to respond to Daisuke's own hips' slow movements all at once.

"Am I? Yesh? An' with 'hat?"

"NO!" Ken cried, feeling his will to fight fade away as Daisuke's eyes imprisoned his once again. "Daisuke… Daisuke this isn't…"

"'hut up." Was all Daisuke replied, lowering his lips to Ken's neck to take a slow, long taste of the sugary skin. Once again, both boys moaned, and Ken arched his back unconsciously, gasping as his and Daisuke's hips came into contact again. Dimly, while pressing his clenched hands against Daisuke's chest to remove him from above his body, Ken realized he had tilted his head, offering the amber skinned boy more skin to torture to his pleasure.

Daisuke lowered himself on the writhing body underneath his, and his hips began to rock ever so slowly against Ken's growing erection. Daisuke's hands reached down behind Ken, kneading the curve of the writhing boy's hips to wedge them closer together.

Ken moaned; a soft, mewling sound scratched out his throat, and earned him a sharper thrust. Once again the contact brought him to the edge of madness, and Ken let loose a soft moan, the feeling of their erections rubbing together only making him ravenous for something that-until few seconds before- he had never even contemplated.

Daisuke's mouth kept wetting Ken's ivory skin with pulling kisses, and the boy could only moan, trying desperately to stop his body from reacting so strongly to Daisuke's touch.

A moan escaped Ken's gritted teeth as Daisuke lowered his onslaught to his breastbone, licking the exposed skin with worshipping slowness. His half-lidded purple eyes focused on an indefinite point on the ceiling, and he would have laughed at himself when he started to notice and count all the cracks and holes in the old wood, if his mind wasn't already busy processing and labelling all the sensations Daisuke's warm touch and breathtaking proximity were awakening in his body. 

The old ratty blanket he'd been using had slid to the floor and that was the first barrier between them that had fallen. The second one, Ken's uniform shirt, was about to follow: Daisuke's fingers were already working slowly to open it, and each time he brushed Ken's skin, an electric tingle ran down the purple eyed boy's spine. 

"Daisuke… No…" Ken protested half-heartedly, already feeling his fists unclenching, ready to fall on the floor… or embrace the boy with the amber skin back. 

"Shhh…" Daisuke blew into his ear, licking and exciting every nerve along the way from Ken's chest up to his ear and back. 

"Dai…" Ken tried again, loosening his fists to lay damp palms against Daisuke's heaving pectorals. 

"Let me…" Daisuke's voice was rasp and low, excited and exciting even through the alcohol. 

"Daisuke…" Ken was a bit breathless, sounding like the mere breathing was an effort too big for his fogged mind. Daisuke's sensual caresses extended to pay homage to his nipple, and Ken shuddered, his back arching taunt as if trying to gain more of that sweet warmth of Daisuke's. "Dai…" Daisuke's tongue licked the back of his ear tenderly, almost worshipping him and Ken's words muted into a small moan. 

As he nibbled down Ken's neck, deliberately teasing each nerve despite being drunk, Daisuke's fingers began tracing meaningless patterns along Ken's exposed belly, eliciting in Ken's body feelings he had never experienced before. Overwhelmed, the purple haired boy arched is back with a stifled cry, drawing his nails down Daisuke's back, while biting his lips to keep himself from screaming. 

"Daisuke…" Ken panted heavily as the dark skinned boy adjusted himself so that their erections were rubbing against one another, tonguing his way across Ken's face down to his neck and shoulders, tasting the sweet skin savagely. 

"Dai…" Ken's tormentor's name was drowned in the darkness as his tanned fingers slid inside Ken's slacks and across his thigh in one fluid and yet teasing motion. Through the alcoholic fog blurring his mind, Ken's moans and cries were all Daisuke could heard. And he enjoyed them too much to stop. 

In a moment of blinding lucidity, Ken understood that too. Daisuke wasn't going to stop. His body tensed momentarily, but Daisuke's low voice, seductive even through the lack of control, or maybe growing sexier because of it, made all his muscles sag. Surrendering at last, his liquid violet eyes meet Daisuke's auburn ones, and he could swear they were calling out to him, moving as the surface of a stormy ocean to enclose him in their hug, welcome him in their depths and close on around him, comfortingly, warmly. 

"Ken…" Daisuke whispered, before allowing himself to give a long lick across Ken's belly, following a dangerous path toward his now loose pants. 

Outside the door, four boys began to chuckle quietly. The older one gave a thumb up to his companions and each answered differently. The golden haired boy with the strange helmet winked back at him, thoughtlessly flinging an arm around the shorter brunette who was blushing profusely at his side. The last one, the slightly older other blonde, was grinning broadly, sharing a malicious look with the brunette pressed against the door. 

When Ken's moans grew louder, the auburn haired boy wavered his hand to the others, gesturing them to keep quiet. Doing so, they all pressed their ears against the russet wood, already foretasting the sweet satisfaction of teasing their burgundy haired companion currently enjoying himself inside the little hut. 

Still moments passed, moments in which the four boys' silly excitation decreased perceptibly, as trepidation and actual pride of their friend quickly took its place. In fact, it was exactly an excited pride what streamed through them all as Ken's screams intensified. Giggles and jokes forgotten, the four boys found themselves fighting one another to press their ears against the small surface of Ken's hut's door. 

But, strangely enough, no matter how hard they tried, they heard nothing for several moments, and little murmurs and whimpers began escaping their lips. What…? 

Then, Ken cried Daisuke's name. And again he did few moments after, his voice lowered to a simple murmur. And then he called him again, insistently, and the fours boy shared a quizzical look when Daisuke never replied. Driven mad by curiosity, the four spies stopped fighting, drowning each little sound they could emit in a breath-held silence, until Daisuke's voice was finally audible again. 

"Zzzzzzzzzz………………" 

* * * * * 

"Kami-sama Ken, mate yoo…" Daisuke called his purple-haired friend, watching his back move as he stomped –deaf and blind to his environments- through the remains of the battlefield. Ken didn't get the time to utter a syllable –if he was about to- that Daisuke was groaning painfully, a hand laying over his sweating forehead. "Damn, my head hurts like crazy…" the boy paused, opening his squinted eyes just a crack, so he could watch Ken's reaction. 

No *one* could resist a Daisuke in pain and keep ignoring him, right? Nope, wrong. Ken obviously wasn't subject to Daisuke's puppy eyes' charm. Blinking, Daisuke realized Ken wasn't meaning to wait for him. Evidently, his plan had a flaw. Maybe he'd better start practicing that look, if he wanted it to work on Ken. 

Barely restraining a grumble, Daisuke shook his head clear –regretting it almost immediately afterwards- and jogged up to his friend. 

"Dude, how did I end up in your hut yesterday night? I woke up there and…" 

"Ask this to yourself." Define Ken's voice as icy didn't even start to describe it. 

"I'm asking *you*!" Daisuke replied with a frown. "I've no idea how I ended up in there!" 

Ken, who had been looking over his shoulders at Daisuke, turned away roughly, wriggling his nose in indignation. 

"Baka." He muttered under his breath, facing forward with a pout that was in no way inferior to Daisuke's current childish look. Unimpressed by Ken's iciness, Daisuke did his best to keep up with his quick pace, growling from time to time due to his throbbing headache. 

Ken was okay with that. As long as Daisuke didn't talk, didn't touch him, didn't do anything to reveal his presence and –more than all- didn't do any of those things Ken had now labelled as "Daisuke-ish", the warrior was free to follow him everywhere. 

Wait. 

Delete that. 

He wasn't. 

Still, Ken wasn't expecting Daisuke to talk to him, so he couldn't come out with a reply as cold as he'd liked when he did, and just mumbled an incoherent, "Uhn?" 

"I said," Daisuke replied, his back to Ken. "Come this way." 

"What? Where are we going?" Ken muttered, and yet he was already following the other boy toward their new destination, an azure, glittering lake. 

Its azure surface rippled and danced at the point where the small waterfall bubbled into the limpid waters. The waves it produced were crushing the sun's reflection into billions of little lights, creating the most appealing golden refraction. As they neared the water edge Daisuke threw away the few spears he'd already collected that morning, and hurried to wash his face with abundant water, hoping it could help his headache.

Far more gracefully, Ken kneeled down at his side, letting his fingertips play thoughtlessly across his own reflection.

"I'd like to have a bath…" he admitted softly, and Daisuke looked up at him with water tracing glistening curves down his face.

"You can, you know?" He said hopefully, already savouring a little rest. "I'll stay here and rest a bit."

Ken replied nothing, but the way he inquiringly arched a purple eyebrow made Daisuke shift uncomfortably.

"What?" again Ken didn't reply, and cocked his head to one side, studying the uneasiness springing over Daisuke's sun-kissed face in silence. "What are you looking at me like that for?" With a shrug Ken rose to his feet, leaning gingerly on a rock behind.

"I better not." He said slowly. "Especially if we consider what you tried to do last night." Brows furrowed, Daisuke puffed out his cheeks, hands on his hips.

"What are ya babbling about?! What did I do?!" Angered, the boy leaned forward slightly, watching Ken through narrowed eyes. "What are you accusing me to? To be a pervert?! ME?!"

Stifling a giggle, Ken cocked his head to the other side, moving a lock of purple from his face.

"Do you promise you won't look? Cross your heart?"

"Ken--" Daisuke said lowly. "We're both--"

"Promise?" Ken's voice was slightly less playful as he leaned forward, and in truth had gained a tone that didn't admitted an answer that wasn't affirmative, which was exactly what Ken go.

"Promise…"

* * * * *

Ken wasn't about to say the water washing away all the dirt and the stress of his search for his body was something he was thankful for, but that was close enough. In truth, clear water had never been a problem in Daisuke's village, but Ken just hadn't found time to focusing on anything that wasn't Daiku – and the last on his list of priorities had ended up to be Ken himself. More than once Daisuke had coerced the purple haired boy into eating, and Ken hadn't had a change of clothes in what felt an eternity.

Well, maybe that shower *was* something to be thankful for.

Ken sighed blissfully as he stepped under the small waterfall, surrounded by trees on one side and a high rock face on the other. A large, flat rock dominated the scenario and – currently invisible to Ken's eyes- Daisuke was there, chewing pensively on a piece of grass as he let his gaze wander across the skies.

Waist deep in the crystalline water, Ken was cleaning his hair carefully, with an attention you'd never expect from a boy. He had been unable to wash it properly in ages, and wasn't about to let the occasion slip. Moaning contently as the water drummed against his skin Ken let his hands leave his shining wet hair, trailing them down his body, his back to the rock where Daisuke was.

"Ehy, Ken!" Rising his hands once again to his hair, Ken shoot a dirty look over his shoulder in the general direction of the voice.

"Don't look." He warned lowly. A distressed sigh answered him, and then Daisuke turned to prop himself up on one elbow, his back to the lake. Hearing movements, Ken waited for them to stop, and then asked, "What do you want?" in a noticeably softer tone.

"Where do you come from?" Looking away, Ken focused on the bubbling water of the cascade, hands freezing in mid-air. It was after a small pause that they restarted streaming through wet purple air, and with the motion, came the voice.

"A place really, really far from here."

"And that Daiku-kid…" Daisuke paused and Ken hunched his shoulders instinctively, foreseeing questions he could have no answers for. "…is he your son?"

"What?!" Ken felt his face flush, even though, when his fists clenched, it wasn't exactly out of embarrassment. "Are you telling me I look old enough to be a *father* to you?!"

With a mix of relief, confusion, outrage and something else he couldn't really describe, Ken whirled around and glared hotly at the rock Daisuke was upon…

…only to find the boy lying on his front, chin rested on his palms a piece of grass wavering in his mouth with every breath he took. Ken blinked as Daisuke took his time to study him, and then the warrior shrugged, resting his head on one palm to let the other lay flat on the rock.

"A father? Hmmm… no, I don't think you look like one." Blinking yet again, Ken hurried to sink in the water, calling Daisuke a virtually countless number of names.

"You-you-you Baka!" He shrieked at last, reaching down to grab a relatively heavy rock from the floor of the lake and throw it to a still staring Daisuke. "You promised!!" Daisuke dodged the rock easily, but he took his time anyway to whine with Ken about how badly the rock could have hurt him if it had hit, and then – still not turning around- watched Ken as he swam toward the middle of the lake, and yelled at the purple haired boy some more things that were drowned by the noise of the waterfall.

It was a wonder though, that Daisuke missed the sweet smile Ken gave him over his shoulders as he swam away…

* * * * *

That evening, when Ken and Daisuke returned home –with, we may say, a very insignificant number of spears- Kenichitaro dashed to welcome them, and Daisuke forgot the weapons he was carrying to lift his brother and spin him around, making both the child and the bell at his side laugh merrily.

Leaning against one the now finished fence that surrounded the village, Ken smiled at the two brothers, and the sound of the bell –for once- added to his contentment, instead of killing it. He feared that sound, dreading it terribly once. Yet, he remembered clearly there was a time when he'd loved that silvery giggle indescribably. With the years, Ken had been able to *stand* the sound, but feeling again happy and flushed each time a bell giggled seemed a time impossible to retrieve.

And yet, as the bell tinkled, Ken felt happiness bloom inside him. Despite everything, his life was happy in that place. Once he'd found Daiku, his bliss would be complete. Stay with Daisuke… forever… was appealing to the purple haired boy. A mirage of everlasting happiness was looming at the horizon of Ken's life. A Daisuke-induced happiness.

And yet… something was troubling Ken deep down. Something was about to happen to shatter this glassy bliss; Ken was sure of it.

For the bell was tinkling.

------- End of chapter 02.

**What did you think? Good? Bad? Crazy?! A marriage a child mentioned, but the soon-to-be couple never even discussed; Oikawa's men are on the move; Kenichitaro is Daisuke's brother… how do this all fit in the scheme of things?! Uhmmmm… you have theories?! Drop me and review and share!!! ^___^ **

**Ken = *whacks Necchan behind her head* Cool down! The plot's not yours! **

**Necchan = ^^;; But I wanted reviews… **

**Ken = *clinically* Addicted to reviews… *rubs chin pensively* **

**Necchan = *promptly* and to you Ken-chan, to your Kaiser-persona, to Daisuke, to the Ken/Dai pairing in all its forms, to Xenodramon, to Angekeru, to Hikayo, to-- **

**Ken = *looks around* Dai? It's *you* who usually is able to stop her from rambling! Where are you?! **

**Necchan = *pauses and points a trembling boy curled down in a dark corner* **

**Dai = *sobs* I can't have fallen asleep on a horny and half-naked Ken… nooooooooooo… *weeps* How could I?! *waterfall-like tears fall from his eyes* **

**Necchan = *open an umbrella* Ken-chan! The boat! Dai's about to flood this place. ^^;; **

**Dai = How could I?!?!?! *weeps & sobs & sniffles & cries* **

**Ken = All ready. *hops on boat* **

**Necchan = *hops on boat too* And--- review! X**


	3. Epilogue - Memory and Desire

  
**A/N= *takes a deep breath* PLEASE read this note. PLEASE, PLEASE, *PLEASE* read it before going on. **

**Some of you could find this chapter not to their liking because halfway through it one of the characters will *fear*to be related to the ones he love.**

**The plot this fic is based off is Rumiko Takahashi's, and it does *not* sport an incestuous relationship. It only deals with a poor boy (a girl in the original manga) torturing himself with the *possibility* of being related to the one he loves when, ((SPOILER)) in truth, he's not. Just keep in mind: this *is* a Daiken/Kensuke and will remain one till the end. I'm a sucker for happy endings. All you need to enjoy this fic is to trust me. ^_^v**

**If you can stand to read digimon characters dealing with 'incest' please go on and read this fic, and if you have time, please review. =) **

**If you -however- don't think you could stand the mentioning of a relationship like that, and yet you decide to read, please do *not* send flames. Again- incest is *only* mentioned, but does *not* happen**

**I'm sorry for the mini-rant, but I thought I had to warn you all. *bows* Now, we can go on with the fic **

**  
A/N 2= The 'feeling' of this chapter is somewhat different from the one permeating the original story: Shukumaru and Suzuko were somehow 'calm', despite everything. Dai and Ken are more anxious, worried about each other, each dreading the prospective of being without the other one. That makes all the Kensuke scenes a whole lot sweeter! X**

**Disclaimer = Digimon and Hono Tripper, their characters and concepts are not mine, but belong to the right owners. **

Hono Tripper Epilogue - Memory and Desire 

The sky was breathtaking that night.  
Countless starts glittered on the shadowed mantle of night, and even the moon had gone hiding somewhere in the folds of said mantle not to eclipse with his milky radiance the stars' gentle twinkle. Such act of generosity was wasted though, when a stranger came to subtract a corner of sky to the stars.

It was just for a moment, quickest than what you'd need to blink, but it was enough to darken the mood of a otherwise serene night.

An arrow had crossed the sky, coming from the general direction of the hills to wedge itself in the fence that protected the village. And the message it carried was clear.

Death to the ones that dared to stand up against Oikawa.

  
* * * * *

Being somewhat used to waking up to the excited buzz of men working on the fence, Ken doubted that birdsongs would be enough to wake him up now that the work had been completed. But when he first opened his eyes that morning, it was to a far more loud and excited buzz than the other days, and Ken could just frown, puzzled beyond words, before hurrying to meet Daisuke in their usual meeting point. 

In his hurry Ken ended up securing the buttons of his shirt while dashing across the streets, a feeling of dread filling his heart as he saw the elders reunited in the chief's hut. And noticing all of Daisuke's soldiers were instructing and guiding women and children toward some refuges, while yelling at the older men to wear something that could protect them and collect some weapons, only made his dread double.

When Ken reached a screeching halt in the middle of the plaza, it wasn't because of the dozens of people running like the current of a river against him. It wasn't for the screamed attempts of some of the younger girls -Hikari and Miyako, or so Ken thought- to have him reach them in the safety of an underground refuge. It was because, a he'd most feared, Daisuke wasn't there.

They'd met up in the same place, at the exact same hour for almost a week now, and no matter how quick Ken would scramble up his strew mattress and dash down the street, Daisuke would always be there first, some bread wrapped in a tore towel to bring along for lunch and some sake swaying in the bamboo little flask he had secured to his side.

But this morning, now matter how Ken searched, Daisuke wasn't there. He was nowhere Ken's eyes could reach him, and that made the purple haired boy -who had stopped resisting the current of men and was now being dragged toward the fence- feel the need to cry.

He wanted to see Daisuke. Now. He wanted to know that the warrior was safe, and wasn't about to be hurt anytime soon. But no matter where he looked, how much he squinted his eyes, Ken couldn't see Daisuke. He'd lost him.  
//Like Daiku// the thought alone was enough to make a sob wrench its way out of Ken throat, and the purple haired boy was suddenly fighting the dozens of arms pushing him away from the plaza with unexpected vigour.  
"Daisuke!" Ken hollered, whipping around convulsedly. "Daisuke!!" No, no, no, no he hadn't lose him. Daisuke wasn't gone. Daisuke wasn't Daiku: he could take care of himself. He would come back. He would, *he would* he would

His keen eyes quickly scanned the squirming crowd, looking for any sign of red hairs and flamed armours. That until a tiny pressure around his wrist made him spin quickly, his eyes wide, but his fists clenched and ready.  
"Who--" Ken swallowed the rest of his sentence when the long-searched red haired warrior jumped out of the dense crowd, gripping Ken's wrist in a surprisingly gentle vicelike grip. 

Ken was yanked against Daisuke's chest, and before he knew, he'd been dragged away from the plaza, that was now the gathering place for all the men equipped with a weapon and waiting for an order. Scarcely aware of his actions, once the two of them found themselves in a most confined space, created jointly by a scattered awning and a wall of rotten wood, Ken threw his arms around Daisuke's neck, running his fingers through the wild russet spikes.

Daisuke said nothing, but embraced Ken back, gently, and rocked him almost imperceptibly while trying to comfort him. Ken noticed the way Daisuke's arms were shaking though, but chose to ask nothing, and just tried to give back as much comfort as he was given. 

Voices echoed in flashing silver waves beyond the sheltering overhang under which they had taken sanctuary, and the air suddenly became hot, gaining the head-twisting smell of writhing flowers. Ken refused to acknowledge the voices. Daisuke wanted to do that as well, but he couldn't, and both he and Ken whimpered when he moved away. Luckily, Ken was reasonable -strong- enough not to try and hug the warrior again. He may haven't been able to let go this time.

"Oikawa's men are on the move." Despite his worry, Daisuke hadn't lost his innate arrogance, and it leaked profusely from his every word, mixed with a self-confidence that somehow reassured Ken enough to nod slowly against the warrior's chest. "We can't go searching the battlefields today Ken. I'm sorry." Daisuke whispered gently and yet surely, as if not questioning at all the result of the upcoming battle. 

Ken's reaction was to just shook his head, punching with inexistent strength at Daisuke's chest.  
"Baka." He muttered brokenly. "Tomorrow Tomorrow"  
"Yes." Daisuke murmured back, effectively stopping Ken's quiet mantra, and touched his lips to the top of Ken's head. Then, abruptly, he moved away, pushing Ken away as gently and yet quickly as he could. "Go hide somewhere. As long as you're inside the fence, there's no danger for you. Just wait for me" 

And with that the russet haired warrior turned around and ran -for the first time in his life- praying for something.  
To be back.

* * * * *

Never few hours had felt longer to Ken. Obedient to Daisuke's wishes, Ken hadn't left the village and had -in truth- spent best of the morning to find a secure corner where he could wait for him. Amidst all the commotion, Ken felt utterly and completely *useless*, and there was nothing he could do to tame this feeling.

He had grown up in one of the richest quarters of a technological and prosperous 21st century Tokio, and thus wasn't trained to react properly in such a perilous situation. The men around him, even though giving the impression to be dashing around aimlessly, knew very well what to do and when to do it. Like the mechanism of a clock, each and every little move of every men was accomplished knowing very well another one would follow, in an escalation that would led to the perfect battle asset. 

Ken could feel fears and uncertainty came to rust the gears and make them groan like the ones of a failing machinery, yet, everyone was setting aside their personal turmoil for the village's sake. Obviously, in such a surprising organization, Ken felt out of place. Like the only one gear that was rusty for real, rotten to the core, and thus could determine the decline of the whole system it was set in.

Unable to help the men readying the village for the attack, the next best thing would have been -maybe- go hiding with the weak, the ill, the too old and the too young people in one of the underground refuges, but Ken had no heart to waste precious room. He couldn't even bring himself to go in there with those few entrusted with taking care and nurse them, for he knew that -in his current state- he could be helpful to no one. It seemed more like he could use some help himself.

Actually, Ken felt drained. And he would never admit -not even to himself- the major cause of his distress wasn't Daiku's disappearance, even though the tauntingly image of the poor child kept materializing in his eyes each time he turned to the streaming water. And the imaginary Daiku was sobbing, his little naked body racked by heavy shudders, Ken's name the only thing that could slide out his lips, turned purple for the coldness. 

The purple haired boy bit his lip. Daiku was alive. Probably warm and happy somewhere on the other side of the fence. He wasn't cold alone lost dead.  
Right?

Yet, as worried as he was for the child, Ken couldn't help but wonder with just as much worry if not more, when he would see Daisuke again. Only few hours had passed since Ken had last seen the russet-haired warrior, and yet he couldn't help but long, desperately, too see him right then and there.

Drawing his legs closer to his torso, Ken turned watery eyes to the river and stood there, motionless, for a small eternity. Finally, his lids fluttered close, and when amethyst eyes focused back on their reflection, Ken wasn't surprised to see warm molten brown eyes peer up at him from the water. 

Of course the purple haired boy wasn't about to admit it, neither he would do it anytime soon, but somehow, he could feel it whenever Daisuke was near, so he'd felt him even before seeing him.  
"Daisuke" Grinning, the warrior moved from behind the tree he was behind and began strolling leisurely around Ken, scanning their surroundings with unnatural nonchalance. 

It wasn't like Daisuke to act that way -ignoring Ken completely- so the purple haired boy shifted in his spot to look up at the warrior, and was rewarded by a quick, sideways glance.  
"Nee, Ken I was wondering" He started, nonchalantly.  
"Yes?" Ken prompted, eyes searching the ones expertly avoiding his. 

Daisuke remained silent from a moment, yet stealing glances of Ken every so often. Ken caught his eyes at last, and smiled, and Daisuke immediately turned his head away with a blush that matched the one currently tingeing Ken's cheeks.

Still not looking directly at Ken, Daisuke made himself comfortable next to him, and cleared his throat with visibly growing nervousness.  
"You see, Ken, I was wondering how old are you?" Ken arched an eyebrow at the question, disappointed that his heart had leapt into his throat apparently for no reason at all.  
"Why?" He asked back, face twisted into a pout.  
"Just out of curiosity" Daisuke shrugged, indifference personified.  
"Well" Ken leaned back slightly, weighting himself on his hands. "I'm seventeen."

Daisuke immediately whipped around, eyes incredibly huge.  
"Ken!" He shrieked out in a strangely squeaky voice, and Ken had the feeling of being mocked. "Seventeen?! You're *too* old to be still single!" Blushing, Ken glared at Daisuke in panic, raising his voice without meaning.  
"Old? Your people marry so young?" But Daisuke paid Ken almost no heed at all, scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

"What a shame" he muttered as his cheeks tinged momentarily. "You're almost older than me oh, wellllllllllllllll" with that the warrior turned, surprising the boy next to him with a conspiratorial wink. "I don't think it will be a problem. Having a consort your age can't be that bad." Ken felt like the blush that had faded from Daisuke's cheek had spread over his own. Blinking, he dared to ask a timid "What?" only to have Daisuke patting his shoulders energetically, virtually ignoring every kind of uncertainty Ken may be displaying.

"It's settled!" the warrior announced as he rose to his feet. "We're getting married as soon as Oikawa's out of the court."  
"But!!" Ken tried to reply something -anything. He really did, but not only Daisuke wouldn't listen to him, his own *voice* wouldn't listen to what his brain was asking, and left him to just open and close his mouth repeatedly, gaping at a cheerful Daisuke as he walked away, stretching his arms in the air as if in a small dance of victory. "Wait!!"  
"It's settled! Settled!" Daisuke sang as he walked down the path and finally out of Ken's vision.

Was it was it a proposal, Ken wondered. Falling down bonelessly to sit back on his heels, Ken turned unseeing eyes to his reflection, mind lost in a avalanche of swirling thoughts. Daisuke if Ken didn't make it back home, Daisuke was the only one he could count on. The only one that seemed to really care for him. The only one Ken felt like he could ever care for.

Daisuke was special to Ken, and in all honesty Ken doubted anyone would ever take in his heart the place Daisuke had. In this lost place, so incredibly far from his home, Daisuke was everything to Ken. Absolutely everything.

Ken couldn't deny Daisuke's proposal had made him delirious with happiness, speeding his heartbeat to unknown speed and yet something about it was troubling Ken. Why proposing so suddenly? What had led the vibrant warrior to throw away his mask of security and let known his feelings, even if in such an odd way? Ken wondered this, and so much more else as he rose to shaky feet and dragged himself toward his hut as if in trance.

Voices didn't reach him in the midst of his thoughts. He almost couldn't feel at all the people pushing him here and there in their hurry, for he was too focused in his thoughts. As fast as his feet could carry him -which was, in truth, really slowly- Ken reached his hut, and collapsed on a heap of wood laying against one of the walls.

//Why so suddenly?// Ken asked himself for the umpteenth time as he looked around unseeingly, eyes going huge as blurred shapes dashed in front of them. //Why now? Now that the village is in such agitation? Why doing it in such a critic moment?// Ken knew the answer. Oh Lord, if he knew it. 

//It means he's ready to die.// 

The thought alone made Ken's chest contract in a fit of pain. Living in that place dangerous and scattered was a dreaded prospective for Ken. Living there, but with Daisuke, tasted blissfully. But spending his life in a place where there wasn't Daisuke was it a comfortable, high-tech apartment in a 21st century Tamachi or a falling hut of rotten wood in a 16th century village it was unbearable. Simply heart-wrenching.

//Daisukeno, no I don't want to lose him, no//

Suddenly, coming out from nowhere, the bell tinkled.

Startled, Ken turned toward the silvery giggle that was coming closer, and found a smiling Kenichitaro strolling toward him, looking perfect and composed even in all that commotion. And Ken found himself calling the child without meaning it.  
"Yes?" Kenichitaro chirped, and proceeded to climb up the woods to sit as close as Ken as he could, rubbing his head against the purple-haired boy's side. Kenichitaro could love Daisuke, but the child simply *adored* being near Ken, and used every occasion he had to stay with him.

At first, Ken had tried not to spend time with the child, due to the bell that would laugh at him each time the kid moved, but as days passed, he'd started to find Kenichitaro's company as fascinating as Daisuke's. Being with the kid felt good in a different way, surely, but not less enjoyable for that, and Ken had even begun to like the sound of the bell that accompanied his every move. This time, in fact, the gentle giggling made the corner of his lips turn up in a smile that made him look glad and sad at once.

"What a pretty bell you have, Kenichitaro" Looking up at Ken with big blue eyes, Kenichitaro waved his bell and gave it to Ken, chubby cheeks puffed out.   
"You want it?"  
"No" Ken shook his head, but took the bell nevertheless, making it tinkle softly. "I had one just like this when I was little it was rusty, and spotted and didn't ring as good as this one, but" Sighing, Ken let his hand stream through Kenichitaro's dark hair. "You know, I'm not the Ichijouji's real son. Their real son, Osamu, died when he was nothing but a child, and that's why they decided to keep me when they found me." Again Ken sighed, running a thumb across the little bell. 

"They say the found me on the riverside, just outside an abandoned building yard, wearing a spotted and burned kimono. And the only thing I had with me was this bell that" Realizing his words, Ken felt his heart stop. Breathing became suddenly difficult as he whipped around to stare at the child sleeping contently at his side.

Without thinking, Ken took the child in his arms, and carried him inside the hut to let him lie down on his bed, all the time looking at him intently. Kenichitaro's hair, which Ken had always defined simply 'dark', were in truth of a velvety black colour that varied to deep purple when the light hit it the right way. Probably with the years it would turn to a marine tone of purple, just like Ken's own had.

His skin, so incredibly pale to be a shocking contrast with the olive skin of his brother, held a milky undertone that was no stranger to Ken's own skin. And his eyes, that Ken had never cared to stare into enough to define, were glittering amethysts, whose remembrance was enough to make Ken's body begin to tremble. Amethyst his eyes too were amethyst

"No" Ken chocked back a sob, combing gently Kenochitaro's hair with one hand as the other flew up to cover his trembling mouth. Never Ken had felt a deeper pain and he doubted he ever would. If what he was thinking was true then then Daisuke, his only friend, his protector, his rescuer, his hero, his

love

his brother.

"No" but there was no point in denying something that suddenly appeared so blinding clear. The signs were all there, almost too clear, too visible. But even too often what we can't see it's right in front of our eyes, glittering and inviting, and yet invisible just because of its unreal clarity. 

Surrendering to sobs, Ken's shoulders began jerking up and down, even though tears refused to come. No wonder Ken felt so connected to Daisuke. No wonder he felt like he'd know him from before. He did. No wonder he felt like he knew and loved those eyes of Daisuke's. He did. Those eyes were the eyes of his first crush, his beloved brother, his Dai-chan

Ken began shuddering, sobbing quietly in front of the cruel irony of a fate that had taken him his home and his brother only to give them back to him as his doom and his love. He couldn't he couldn't those feelings he had for Daisuke were forbidden, wrong, completely immoral and yet now that he knew what it felt like to love Daisuke, he doubted he could stop loving him.

"No, no, no" Ken moaned as he staggered on shaky legs outside the hut, wiping his red and dry eyes with lose fists, like a child would. Once outside, Ken leaned against the wall and wrapped his arms around his upper torso, shaking. 

Few were the things he remembered of his childhood, of the time before he was Ken Ichijouji. He remembered warm brown eyes he loved incredibly, and icy blue ones of an old man that would call him my Ken-chan. And then then he remembered a bell tinkling and he remembered

Flames.

Ken's eyes sprung wide open, and indeed flames were around him. People all around him were screaming, running for shelter as horsemen delivered death with their rusty spears. 

Unnoticed to Ken, too lost in his pain, Oikawa's men had broken into the village and set it on fire with burning arrows. One flaming dart came to wedge itself in the wall against with Ken had retreated, and Ken turned to look at it with empty eyes. 

Flames, flames, flames everywhere flames like the ones that had embraced him that time when he was a kid that time in the hut with the bell gigging the people screaming the animal's last cries of pain and the flames the flames everywhere, trying to touch him, to lull him in an endless sleep

Terrified, Ken opened his mouth to scream, but found himself unable to, and just sank on his knees and stared emptily as people all around him began falling in pools of shimmering red liquid. A now familiar panic began filling Ken, making his body shook like a leaf. No matter where he looked, flames filled his vision, a far corner of his mind noted that was wrong, very wrong. 

Flames couldn't possibly have eaten the whole village like that, so quickly, so completely, without leaving any trace behind. Yet, right then Ken's world was composed solely by flames swaying endlessly around him in the most dreadful of dances. Like waves, like water made of fire, the flames were lapping at his body, and as Ken widened his eyes, he felt himself sinking down in the familiar embrace of darkness.

Liquid darkness, almost as hot as the flames, was curling around Ken's ankles and dragging him in its deeps, and the purple haired boy found his mind split in two parts, each screaming something different.  
//I'm going home//  
//I'm leaving Daisuke// 

Horrified by the mere prospective of leaving the other boy, Ken tried to shake his head clear, and inhaled deeply, almost expecting the liquid darkness to fill his lungs as he did, but nothing happened. Fighting against the invisible restrains making him sink deeper and deeper in the darkness, Ken began praying for strength, refusing to give up even when only his head was out of the shadows.  
//Daisuke//

Then, something happened, and Ken snapped watery purple eyes open to the dreadful scene of Daisuke's village burning as its villagers were injured and killed mercilessly. A ringing sound filled Ken's ears as the boy wondered how he'd escaped the hole, and then, as the noise clarified, Ken had his answer, suddenly, almost too much.

The bell was tingling.

And chorusing the silvery noise there was a terrified holler. Inside the now burning hut, Kenichitaro was screaming, calling out in fear for his brother to come and save him. The aftershock of his sudden awakening still streaming through his veins in a rush of adrenaline, Ken scrambled to his feet, as bits and flashes of a forgotten past came back to his mind, unwanted, unneeded, unasked for.

Flames he'd always feared flames 

Ken reached out a hand, screaming out Kenichitaro's name, but he was prevented from moving when one of Oikawa's horsemen gripped his shoulder, spinning him around to face a bloody sword. Daisuke's name escaped Ken's lips in the form of a scared scream even before Ken had time to consider his actions, and just as quickly the warrior leapt from behind a burning heap in front of Ken.

The horseman turned briefly to where his dead steer laid, and then whipped to glare at Daisuke, and straightened, dragging Ken to his feet. He held the boy against his chest as he raised his sword, but Daisuke was faster, stronger, simply more accustomed to fight on even ground than one of those horseman would ever be - and thus, the young warrior swung his sword, and the horseman was sent lying on the ground before he could grasp what had hit him, a bleeding gash tingeing his neck with crimson.

Flames flames  
  
Not daring sheathing his weapon, Daisuke wiped his sweaty forehead and went to Ken. The boy stood leaning against what remained of the hut's wall. His hands covered his face as he shook.

Flames he'd always feared flames, because

Daisuke took Ken in his arms and held his trembling body. Or at least tried to, since as soon as he felt Daisuke's touch Ken reeled backwards, not allowing anything more but a ghost contact, his head snapping up.

"Ken" Daisuke tried gently to touch Ken, but the boy would have none of it now.  
"Daisuke!" Ken shook his head, confused, scared, and yet considering with surprising lucidity what he had to do. "Kenichitaro is in the hut! Reach him! Now! Fast!" Daisuke's eyes grew wide, as he felt an electric charge building in his body. Wasting no time asking more, and even forgetting completely every caution, Daisuke leapt inside the hut, screaming his brother's name at the top of his lungs. Ken could do nothing more than peek inside, his fear holding him back as invisible chains.

Flames gods, how much he feared flames

The ravenous flames cast flickering light across the huge chamber and crimson light and darkness melted and overflowed in the strangest games of heat and radiance. A billowing flame surged few inches in front of what Ken managed to recognize as Daisuke's brother even through the tick smoke, and the little boy cried, rubbing at his eyes with his chubby little fists.  
"Niisan" he cried, his little chest heaving in jagged movements. "Niisan" 

Ken had the sudden urge to tell Daisuke where the kid was, sure beyond explanation the warrior hadn't seen him yet, but found himself unable to speak. He could feel the terrible heat rise all around him, the pungent odour of burnt cloth and flesh engulfed his nostril, mixed with the chocking taste of the ash coating the insides of his mouth. The noises of the firestorm mixed and mingled in the air, a dreadful chorus to the glassy echo of the little bell giggling softly, almost tauntingly, from the core of the firestorm.

The flames were everywhere now, unstoppable, invincible and Ken shook in fear, feeling tears gathering in his eyes. How much he feared flames

Daisuke tried to step forward, searching the fire with keen eyes, but the vortex of flames exploded in ripples of ruby heat just few inches from him, sending shattered particles of burning wood and sparkling flickers to flood the room. The redhead warrior raised his arms to shield his face and right from the middle of the hell, he heard Kenichitaro crying softly, the flames engulfing his flesh, licking at his feet.   
"Niisan!!" The child sobbed, fighting for air. "Niisan!!" Hot tears trailed down his cheeks, leaving sparkling marks on the grey ash. A lock of purple fell across his eyes and to brush his lips. Unconsciously, the little boy bit on it, his lips quivering hard. " niisan"

The flames built up higher and higher around the boy, until all he could see was the livid cloud of smoke surrounding him. He kept sobbing, his fear overwhelming, fighting for precious air as the thick smoke clawed its way down his throat. His whispered call kept sliding out his lips, desperate, and rivulets of tears wet his ivory cheeks, now tainted with ash and mud. His lungs burned and so did his eyes. Tears blurred his vision, tightening his throat around any kind of scream for help. Something seemed to be holding him in place. At least, that's what he thought...

Then, something reached his ears, and Kenichitaro's scared violet eyes sprung wide open. More hellish flames licked his sides, but he paid them no heed, instead focusing on the blurred shape standing in the door way, hidden between wisps of black smoke. He squinted his eyes, a sparkle of hope igniting them as chocked yells made their way to his mind, shattering his state of quiet daze.  
"Kenichitaro, where are you?! Answer me, kiddo! Where are you?! Niichan! Niichan! Where are you?! I'm Daisuke! Kenichitaro!! Kenichitaro! KENICHITARO!!!!"  
"Niisan!!" they boy cried, reaching his little arms out. "Niisan!!"  
"Kenichitaro!!" Daisuke hollered, finally spotting his brother in the midst of the crumbling inferno. And Ken's head shot up again, hope filling the young man's heart.

"Niisan!!" Kenichitaro ran toward his brother, tears of relief falling down his face. His brother was there. With him. For him. There was nothing to worry about. Nothing nothing nothing but the ceiling suddenly collapsing, falling toward the boy in a mad rush. Falling for an embrace a mortal embrace he couldn't escape.

Everything afterwards happened like in a slow motion for Ken. 

Daisuke opened his mouth, screaming his brother's name to the nothingness. The child stopped, scared to see the look of horror crossing the older boy's face. He turned around then, almost gracefully in all his innocence, purple air swirling around his ivory face. A flicker of confusion brighter than the thousands hues the flames had been casting into his wide eyes crossed his chubby features as he lifted his gaze to the crimson flames falling toward him. His heartbeat boomed loudly in his ears, blood pulsating through his veins almost painfully. His eyes widened, his fingers fidgeted as he fell backward, raising his arms in a futile resemblance of a shield.

And then the flames reached him, enclosing him a hug of mortal passion. 

Daisuke readied himself to leap forward, but something happened then that would remain seared in his memory for all eternity. Something Ken needn't to see to know. Something that made fresh tears leak out from his red eyes. 

The flames curled around Kenichitaro's little body and the air around him seemed to form ripples like the surface of a stormed lake. And then, in front of Daisuke's eyes, Kenichitaro's little body disappeared, vanishing in a cloud of shimmering flickers of light.

Ken slid down until he was on his knees, shivering madly as Daisuke kept staring in the now empty hut, his fingers loosening around the handle of his weapon.

Ken had always feared flames because they had brought him away from his home

Daisuke keep shaking his head in denial, unable to talk. But in war there's no time to weep, no room for sorrow. No one gives their enemies time to say goodbye to whoever they'd lost to the hunger of the war, and this occasion was no different. Before the sword could slid off Daisuke's hand, his tanned fingers curled around it with renewed rage because a mocking voice dared disturb him as he prayed for his brother.

"Where's Daisuke, the mighty protector of this bunch of cowards?" A sneer followed the question, and Daisuke's knuckles turned white around the sword-handle. "Come out and face me if you dare, you coward!" Oikawa made his horse halt just outside the hut Daisuke was in. And when the boy leaped out form the hut -the structure collapsing behind him- he was welcome by a rich, ricocheting laugh.

Fuelled by the unpleasant sneer ringing in his ears, Daisuke's rage anger became an inferno. This abomination had killedor whatever else had happened to him, his only brother, his precious Kenichitaro, and was daring to laugh.   
He wasn't going to survive it.

Oikawa gave Ken a long look, letting a small trail of droll trickle down his chin as he licked his lips. Shivers returned to shook Ken's body, even though he wasn't sure he'd ever gone away. Oikawa's pitch black eyes, set in a face almost too white to be a living creature's, aligned on Daisuke then, and another laugh escaped him.  
"So you hide like a girl now, oh mighty warrior? Or were you just hoping to have some last minutes of bliss with your slut before going to meet your relatives in hell?"

"Don't. You. Dare!!" Daisuke shrieked, leaping at his opponent nothing more but blinding rage guiding him. No one could dare to say *anything* about his relatives or to hurt them. No one could dare to call him a coward. And, moreover, no one could dare say anything, anything at all to Ken and hope to survive. 

Forgetting his rationality when fighting proved to be a deadly mistake though, because soon enough Daisuke found himself slammed to the ground by the hoofs of Oikawa's horse.

Daisuke brought his sword up to absorb the shock when he saw the stallion's hoof descend on him, but the blade didn't survive the blow and shattered, leaving Daisuke's breastplat-ed chest open for Oikawa to hit it as he pleased. And that's what he did, using his spear to draw a long scar across the pattern of flames on the armour.

Daisuke rolled away before Oikawa could calibrate better his force and hit him again, and ended up knocking his shoulder against one heap of rocks, causing the small pile to crumble down. Oikawa laughed, obviously enjoying the sight of a struggling and winching Daisuke and sank his heels violently in his stallion's sides, urging it forward.

For some fighting can be an art, some others even see it as a mere sport, but all those would agree that fighting has its rules and laws. For Daisuke fighting meant keep on living, and the only rule he'd follow on a battlefield was, "there are no rules". That's why he didn't hesitate to grab one of the biggest rock on the ground and to throw it to his opponent, effectively stopping his run and knocking the spear out of his hands.

Again the laugh came, and Oikawa just rubbed his injured hand on the front of his ebony armour, derision evident in his eyes.  
"Was that supposed to hurt me?" He sneered, reaching down for his sword.  
"No" Daisuke took his time to wipe away the trail of blood that ran down his chin, then continued. "It wasn't but *this* is!" With a almost animal growl Daisuke clutched a bloody spear laying at his side -maybe Oikawa's own, no one can tell for sure- and summoning every ounce of strength he had in his body threw it at what through the throbbing pain clouding his mind seemed his opponent.

Even if injured Daisuke hadn't lost his capacity to aim, and the spear hit Oikawa with all the force of Daisuke's desperation, wedging itself deep into his throat, causing him to reel backwards, mortally wounded. Grinning to himself Daisuke watched silently as his opponent struggled not to fall off his horse, gasping for breath as he lowered his eyes, gazing wonderingly at the wooden staff that protruded from his neck.

Daisuke somehow rose to his feet, and dashed toward Oikawa to finish him, but the horseman had other plans. The black-haired bandit lifted his head a bit, and Daisuke was astonished to see a smile forming on those lilac lips of his.

The human body is the most perfect machine. But -in some cases- its perfection becomes monstrous. It's all too known that pushed to their limits humans can obtain few moments of incredible power from their own desperation. A mere matter of chemicals mixing, or maybe something deeper like souls and hearts are involved, no one is to know this - the fact is, that Oikawa *did* obtain that power in his final moments.

Grinning madly, like one of those scary broken dolls of the old times, he kicked his horse's sides and urged it forward to collide with Daisuke and send him sprawled on the floor. Daisuke couldn't stand it when he hit his head this time, and passed out, his body going limp. 

Forcing his stallion to proceed forward, Oikawa made it rise on two legs as he grabbed with unexpected force a relatively huge piece of burning wood. His laughed resounded clear in the suddenly cold air, and in his dreamless slumber Daisuke let out a low groan, as if sensing danger even if he was unconscious.

The next moments seemed to last an eternity for Ken. Realization dawned on him, first with the sudden knowledge that Oikawa would, indeed, kill Daisuke without a second thought, despite being almost dead himself. Then with an paralysing certainty Ken saw that no matter what he or Daisuke did, Oikawa was going to have his revenge.

Ken thought he could hear the muscles in Oikawa's arm tightening as he lowered his weapon to hit Daisuke, as the same time as his mount lowered his anterior hoofs to squash Daisuke's chest, and he suddenly found himself moving. 

Even before his mind had time to go around what he was doing Ken was sprawled over Daisuke, shielding the other boy with his own body, his arms circling Daisuke's neck and his head hid in the crock of his neck. Feeling the flames and the hoofs coming closer, Ken closed his eyes, and ordered the liquid darkness to come and take him.

And -absurdly- as the crackling of the flames rushed closer, Ken found himself falling, holding Daisuke as hard as he could. He was sinking in the darkness now. He had no sense of anything moving in the close proximity, but Ken felt clearly rippling motions against his body, as if he was completely submerged in something that felt like but didn't behave like a liquid.

//Flames a crackling fire//

Slowly, the warm liquid darkness retreated and Ken could feel distinctly a light breeze streaming through his hair.   
//I was always scared whenever I saw a fire//

Ken's eyes fluttered open and stared sadly at the face an inch from his own, unbelievable molten brown eyes shut peacefully. A dark pink suffused Ken's cheeks, and he straightened to give a better look first a the boy laying with his head on his lap and then at their surroundings.

The two were on the riverside, just outside an abandoned building yard Ken knew to be not far from his house a place Ken knew to be the one where he'd been found, lost and alone, when he was a child.   
"Now I know." I whispered in an exhalation. "It's a power I have." It wasn't the bell; it had never been the bell. It was the flames. And Ken' fear of them.

Ken smiled falsely at his surroundings, and then down at Daisuke, running a hand across Daisuke's cheek. Slowly, as if to keep the enchantment of the moment, Ken leaned forward, and inhaled Daisuke's aroma. 

As Ken closed his eyes, tears gathered behind his lowered eyelids, and a single glistening teardrop slid down his face and onto Daisuke's dark amber cheek.

His Daisuke

  
* * * * *

The sunrays made a dancing pattern across the room as a light breeze wafted the snowy curtains. Stranger noises reached Daisuke's ears. Something was clicking rhythmically nearby, and from somewhere below the warm, soft and sweet-smelling mattress he was upon, artificial roars would ring out from time to time. 

Noises he didn't know, places he didn't know and smells and feelings he didn't know welcomed him as he awoke, yet Daisuke felt at peace, safe. The noise of water trickling caught his attention, and a moment later a dripping cloth was wiping his dirty face with extreme tenderness.

Daisuke cracked his eyes open, only a little, and regarded quizzically the white ceiling and the golden pendant lamp hanging over his head. Gentle finger moved a lock of brown from his clammy forehead and Daisuke forced himself to turn his head and stare into eyes he knew to be purple.  
"Ken" he croaked hoarsely, licking his lips immediately afterwards and swallowing, in hope to have his voice regaining its usual deep tone.

Pulling away, Ken smiled gently at the still dazed boy, giving his head a slight toss to get rid of a fallen lock, not wanting to touch his hair with soaked hands.  
"You're finally awake" he whispered, and the relief in his voice twined with barely restrained worry. Daisuke felt a light brush on his cheek, and leaned in the feeling of the finger running across his cheek. In the silent morning air, Ken could almost ear Daisuke's heart beating quietly, and Ken's eyes misted over with tears.

That heart beat for him and yet Ken had to stop that. He had to stop loving and being loved by Daisuke. No matter how much it would hurt, that was for the best. He'd set Daisuke free; he'd convince the warrior that Ken felt nothing but pale friendship for him, and then he'd step back and watch as the one that had his heart in his hands found someone else to be with and went on with his life, forgetting him forever as it was right.

Shutting his eyes, Ken whipped away, concentrating on washing in the small bow of warm water the cloth he'd been using to clean Daisuke's face. Daisuke's tired, squinty eyes lolled to Ken's back, and the warrior felt his features twist in worry. He had never seen the young boy so sad before, not even when he was tormenting himself over the disappearance of that friend of his. Seeing a friend sad, or in pain, had always troubled Daisuke. But seeing Ken, of all people, hurting, seemed unbearable.

Daisuke tried to get up to a sitting position in order to speak to Ken more comfortably, but a throbbing ache in the back of his head stopped him, and he collapsed back on the bed, eyes shut tightly. A low moan escaped his lips, and within seconds Ken returned to his side, glassy violet eyes wide with concern.  
"Daisuke?!" He murmured in panic, tracing the curves of Daisuke's forehead and cheeks with the wet washcloth. Daisuke groaned in pain, and when he forced his eyes open, he was reminded of the oddness of is surroundings.

"Where are we?" He asked lowly, shifting in a more comfortable position. At first Ken did nothing but whip around, sinking both hands in the water with the excuse of washing the cloth, while in truth he just needed to hide his trembles. Then, he answered.  
"This is my home. That's my bed. You don't know how hard it was to drag you here. You're heavy, you know?" Ken had raised his voice to a somewhat playful tone, but he himself could felt the weakness behind it. He just hoped Daisuke wouldn't. 

If Daisuke had noticed the way Ken's voice faltered, either he didn't find it worrying or he just decided he'd ask later about it, and just focused back on the ceiling were pale shadows projected from the open window melted and stretched to bizarre lengths. Then, his eyes widened, and were focused on Ken again.  
"Oikawa?" Daisuke watched as Ken's shoulders gave a shrug, and then turned back up to his shadows.  
"Dead I suppose."

Daisuke paid Ken's answer almost no heed at all, for his mind was already clouded by another question.  
"I wonder what happened to Kenichitaro" He said softly, pain shimmering underneath the languid quietness of his voice. Ken's hands paused their motions, but the water they were immersed in kept forming ripples and waves, for the trembling hadn't ceased. If anything, it had increased its tempo.

Ken couldn't move. He didn't do anything. He didn't say anything. For a moment he just gazed blankly at his ripping reflection, until a voice came from outside and forced him out of his haze.  
"Daiku, don't go wandering, you've just exited the hospital!"  
"C'mon mommy, don't wolly! I'm just gonna zee my friendz at the Palk! Bye!"

Ken was scarcely aware of his action as he staggered to his feet and reached the window, trusting his torso forward to see the adorable redhead dashing down the street in a crowd of kids his age, wearing his beloved blue shirt. Ken had to lean against the wall in order not to fall, for his knees had gone weak under him. Daiku had just exited the hospital That meant today was

"Daiku, stop! Don't go the Park!" Ken found himself hollering even before he could complete his thought, but the kid ignored him and kept dashing down the sidewalk. His brain fogged with hope, Ken took a step backward, watching the kid disappear behind a corner. He had a chance to go back and save Daiku. To prevent him from going lost in the 16th century he just needed to reach the Park before the explosion, and before the Ken of that time could.

A quick glance to the clock told Ken he had plenty of time yet. It was two and Ken was sure the explosion couldn't have taken place before five. Whipping around, the purple haired boy fell on his knees in front of the bed, and hurried to open the large box of gauze and bandages he'd set on the floor. Daisuke's wounds needed to be dressed, that was the more pressing matter now. He knew he had three hours to save Daiku, but Daisuke he didn't know, and didn't want to take the risk.

Rummaging through the bends and making most of them fall on the floor in his haste, Ken found himself shaking again, out of what, he wasn't sure. Daisuke noticed it too, and when Ken turned around with a plaster in his shaky finger, Daisuke took hold of his thin wrist, his other hand slipping behind Ken's neck to gently pull him closer.

Ken stuttered, a blush rushing to his cheeks as his eyes focused on Daisuke's mouth. Ken couldn't help it. It was just stronger than him. As he gazed at Daisuke's face he felt his feelings burning stronger than ever and pinning him in that spot; to that perfect moment. 

The warrior moaned softly in anticipation, giving up understanding the feelings Ken could send ragging in him even with just a look, and just wanting to finally know how Ken tasted and felt against him.  
  
Ken's heartbeat grew faster as Daisuke's face inched closer to his own. The initial shock of having Daisuke so close was somewhat fading, and Ken was willing himself to pull away. However, he couldn't help but gaze at Daisuke and realize just how much he loved him 

another, deeper blush came to him, and Ken finally managed to turn away from those intense yet caring and reassuring eyes of Daisuke.  
"I I have to dress your wounds." He exhaled shakily, and as Ken gently pushed him back on the mattress Daisuke whipped his head around, pouting childishly over not getting his kiss, and glared lopsidedly at Ken.

Shakily, Ken began running the wet washcloth across Daisuke's finely chiselled bare chest and belly, taking care not to let his fingers brush the skin for fear of the electric jolts he knew that would come. Gently, Ken cleaned away every trace of blood and sweat that marred the bronzed muscles of Daisuke's body, even though with great difficulty.

For once, Ken couldn't stop his shaking, and since he couldn't bring himself to actually touch Daisuke flesh, it was difficult for him not to proceed really slowly. Then again, Daisuke wasn't helping either. He had given up kissing or even touching Ken, but wouldn't stop squirming. And when Ken had thoroughly soaked a cotton ball with peroxide Daisuke had even begun yelping and trashing around. In fact the warrior had actually backed away, almost falling off the bed in his haste, when Ken had brought the cotton ball to his chest.

With pleading eyes Daisuke had asked Ken not to do it. He promised the other boy he'd be good if Ken put down that, but the bluenette just arched an eyebrow. There was no way Daisuke could know peroxide would sting, being him native of an era where peroxide didn't even existand such behaviour puzzled Ken. 

Concluding that Daisuke was just fishing around for some additional attention the purple haired boy gave the warrior's behaviour nothing more than few seconds of attention and then proceeded with his ministration, even though he had to pin Daisuke to the mattress and hold him still, whispering soothingly nonsense all the while. 

"You're covered in scars" Ken said softly, dressing a still bleeding wound on Daisuke's side. "Old and new, big, small" Ken's voice lowered to a whisper as he inspected the wounds, trying not to imagine how many times Daisuke must have had -and would- put his life in danger.

Still squirming madly, Daisuke groaned out a response, his face displaying an almost perfect puppy dog eyes look that would have worked even on Ken this time. Turning around to take a plaster and apply it to the wound, Ken found his eyes drawn by a clearly deeper scar.  
"What's that? This seems so much more deep" He mused loudly as he ran a gentle finger across it, making Daisuke squirm yet again. Cracking his eyes open, Daisuke looked down at the wound Ken was touching and then turned eyes glazed with pain to Ken's bowed head.

Ken had returned to his previous activities, not really expecting Daisuke to answer, when the warrior cleared his throat.  
"Of course it is, genius." Daisuke said lowly, his voice back to its usual deep and rich tone and yet gaining a strangely pompous quality. "That's where they've taken my appurentulix out."  
"Appendix." Ken corrected automatically, with a bit of nonchalance that went completely lost when his eyes grew incredibly wide. His head shot up, and Daisuke couldn't help but notice that, for as strange at it was the look of complete shock on Ken's face was really appealing.

"Appurentulix?!" Ken shrieked out, grabbing Daisuke's shoulders and shaking him madly. The warrior rose to a seated position, and if he wasn't still that shocked Ken would wonder if all the moans and groans of pain he'd let loose before weren't just a ploy to have Ken taking care of him.  
"What?!" Daisuke hollered just as patchily, his voice hitting a high pitched note. But again, Ken paid Daisuke and his shock and worry no heed, his brain and eyes and fingertips busy exploring Daisuke's features.

Rich brown hair that held a faint undertone of red.   
Skin of the same colour as honey and bottomless pools of molten brown for eyes. 

Ken inhaled a shaky breath and held it in, feeling moisture leaking out the corner of his eyes. The purple haired boy loosened the hold he had on Daisuke's shoulders enough to let the warrior sit up properly, and made himself comfortable on the bed, reaching up to brush his fingertips across Daisuke's face. 

The breath caught in the redhead's throat as Ken gently traced his face with shaky fingers, and the blush that seemingly loved to graze Ken's cheek was suffusing across Daisuke's face. Biting his bottom lip gently, as if to prevent sobs from escaping him, Ken let out a chocked little giggle, sniffling. Oh yes, Ken could be Kenichitaro, but Daisuke Daisuke  
"Daisuke" Ken whispered in an exhalation, sighing softly. "You're you're Daiku" Puzzled, Daisuke shook his head, and then tilted it to a side to give a better look at Ken's face, now glowing with happiness. 

Ken could almost see what had happened, and it became all so clear in his mind to be blinding.

The flames born from the explosion had made Ken's power go crazy and the time-hole had swallowed both him and Daiku. Somewhere through the journey that was brining him back home Ken must have lost Daiku's hand, and the kid had ended up voyaging further backward, landing almost ten years before Ken's own arrival.

It was incredibly simple and yet so incredibly, incredibly, complex

Kenichitaro, at the age of six, had been swallowed in the folds of time and became Ken Ichijouji.  
At the age of seventeen Ken Ichijouji was hauled back in the folds of time and taken back home, bringing with him the little Daiku.  
And Daiku, lost and alone in the inhospitable lands of a 16th century Japan raked by an endless war, was found and raised to become Daisuke.  
The same Daisuke that Kenichitaro -Ken- called 'brother'.

Crazy; absurd; foolish even. Ken had no terms to define this situation with. All he knew was his infinite happiness. Daisuke was his Daiku. Daisuke was his love. Simpler even.

Daisuke was his.

Not wanting to stop touching Daisuke now, just has much as he didn't want to do it before, Ken had restarted dressing Daisuke's wounds, and the bluenette took the opportunity to kiss tenderly the tip of the other boy's nose when applying a plaster on its bridge. 

Ken felt guilty thinking of the poor little Daiku lost in an unknown land because of him. And thinking that all the scars that grazed Daisuke's body wouldn't be there if he hadn't voyaged through time and were -thus- virtually Ken's fault, made the purple haired boy's heart constrict.

Daisuke squirmed slightly whenever Ken fingered his wounds, still pleading with his eyes not to have peroxide put on his wounds, and yet he was visibly more relaxed, the change in Ken's attitude affecting his own as well. When Ken kissed his nose, though, Daisuke seized the moment to grab Ken's wrist and press them together and against his chest.

Ken blinked when one of his hands was pressed over Daisuke's beating heart. Smiling gently he placed one of Daisuke's hands over his own heart, and wasn't shocked when he felt their heartbeats sing in synchronous. Leaning forward, Daisuke touched his forehead with Ken's and spoke, gently, softly, his voice gaining a trembling insecurity that was unknown to it.  
"Ken" Daisuke said softly. "I must go back home."

Ken inhaled shakily. He didn't want Daisuke to leave. Not now, not ever. He'd lost him too many times already and he felt like he wouldn't have survived another separation. A glance at the clock hanging from the wall told Ken it would be easy, absurdly simple for Daisuke to go back. In few minutes the explosion that had brought Daiku to become Daisuke in the first place would happen, and Daisuke just needed Ken to use his power and send him back.

Shaking his head Ken tried to pull away, thinking to himself that Daisuke would be better if they stayed there. Of course he couldn't tell the Motomiyas that Daisuke was Daiku, but they were his family after all, and they had the right to be together. But

weren't Takeru, Iori, Yamato and Takeru his family too? Weren't they *Ken's* family as well? Confused, Ken shook his head again, and Daisuke took the motion as a silent plea to stay.  
"Ken, I can't stay here they need me" Ken whimpered quietly, his confusion growing. 

The poor boy felt like he was about to drown, confused and desperate. Crying wasn't an option and yet Ken felt the tears gathering. He was expecting to stop breathing soon, overwhelmed by his feeling, and yet nothing was happening. 

He wanted to stay with Daisuke. He needed to. But their families, and their homes, and the war, and the safety of Tamachi and and and  
"Come with me." Daisuke said gently, smiling softly at the surprised look that tinged Ken's face. Ken's hands were pressed more firmly against Daisuke's chest for a moment and then the warrior pulled away, his mask of security back on his face, even if cracked and tore in more than one point.

A genuine smile was tugging up Daisuke's lips and the small child Ken cared for could be seen through the ruptures on the mask. A child gentle and caring, and breathtakingly in love with Ken.  
"You want to go back there? You don't mind how?" Ken asked as Daisuke kneeled down to retrieve his clothing.

"They can't make it without me." Daisuke said, currently wearing his armour. "And then again, I'm in debt with my father. He found me wandering through the same battlefield where I found you when I was a child, and since then he raised me as his son." Ken's eyes clouded and the boy watched the other getting ready for a journey he didn't even know where to start.

They'd just have to go to the Park Ken knew that. The only thing Daisuke needed to go back home was to have Ken leading him there but  
"Daisuke isn't your life hard?" Ken murmured quietly, watching carefully as each and every scar on Daisuke's body disappeared under his clothing and armour. And to Ken it seemed as if Daisuke was trying to conceal them to him, to tame his guilt.

"Not at all." Daisuke replied simply. "I've lots of friends and then" Daisuke's lips curved up in a smile that made him look both innocent and mischievous, a some sort of mix between Daiku's sweet smile and Daisuke's usual grin.

"Now" Daisuke paused, but not out of hesitation. "I have something far more important. I have you." Daisuke hold his hand out for Ken to grasp it, but the other boy ignored it completely and flung his arms around Daisuke's neck, feeling strong arms curling around his waist.

"Daisuke" Ken murmured, rubbing his forehead against Daisuke's chest. "Will you protect me?" Without hesitation, Daisuke tightened his hold around Ken's waist and whispered, "Of course. Always. Forever."

And Ken's decision was made.

  
* * * * *

"Are you sure we'll go back home just staying here doing nothing?" Daisuke asked, eyeing strangely the bizarre buildings that sided the Park they were in. In response Ken chuckled, squeezing Daisuke's hand gently.  
"It won't take long, trust me." Home yes, despite everything Ken and Daisuke were going home. Because there wasn't a place one of them could call home if the other wasn't there with him.

As the minutes passed Ken squeezed Daisuke's hand a little tighter and when Daisuke turned to him it was just to see Ken snuggle closer, yet again wrapping his arms around his neck.  
"Ken?" Daisuke could see Ken was scared, but as much as he could think about it, he could never guess what it was, even though what scared Ken was really similar to what was troubling Daisuke in the first place.

Be apart.

The prospecting of being apart terrified both boys, even if each was fearing a different situation. Daisuke feared, *dreaded*, that Ken would refuse to marry him and that he'd be stuck watching his one love choosing a bride from the girls of the village. 

Ken dreaded separation itself. Each time he'd used his power it had separated the two of them, and Ken feared that this occasion would be no different. Losing Daisuke again to the caprice of time Ken wasn't sure he could take that *again*. Seeking comfort in Daisuke's arms, Ken raised his chin to meet Daisuke's eyes and found their faces dangerously close.

Strangely enough it was Daisuke the one that blushed when they inched closer, and even stranger, it was Ken the one that initiated the kiss.  
"Hold me Daisuke." He pleaded softly, his breath fanning across Daisuke's mouth. "Whatever happens, hold me tight, and never let go"  
"Ever" Daisuke agreed in a whisper, and when his lips pressed to Ken's in that first gentle kiss, the shyness left his body, as his senses rejoiced in finally having proofs that Ken was born to fit in his arms, just like he'd always thought.

//This time we'll stay together//

Ken moaned a little in the kiss and a pleasureful purr scraped out Daisuke's throat to answer him. The electricity was instantaneous. Undeniable. Shocking them both to the core. Daisuke's tongue pushed Ken's mouth open, and he submitted with a throaty moan. 

Daisuke was already mad with the need to touch Ken, and seeing his same desire evident in every Ken's movement made him delirious. His hands pressed against the small of Ken's back and forced their whole bodies to do what their mouths were doing and press together, blissfully.

Need to breath forced them apart, though, and when Ken felt Daisuke's arms tighten around him as his mouth fell open in shock, he knew it was time. Turning around to stare at what Daisuke was staring at, Ken saw himself and a younger Daisuke strolling, blissfully unaware of their destiny, toward them.

Daisuke tried to say something as Ken hold him even closer, but the explosion swallowed his words whole. The building at their right deflagrated with a noise of billionths thunders striking. A now familiar electric current ran through Ken, making the hair on his arms go bristled. 

The explosion echoed in his ears, roaming terribly, and billionths tongues of flames burst forth, seemingly out of nowhere. The street was no longer filled with gentle orangey brilliance of the setting sun, but blood red light flickered and danced madly. A billowing flame surged few inches in front of him and Ken felt something in his chest twist.

Not too far, the bell the other Ken had strapped to his backpack tinkled gently, and this Ken had the sudden urge to go and warn them. To tell the other himself about Daiku, about Daisuke. But he couldn't do that. That could change the story. Change the story could prevent him from being with Daisuke. And Daisuke was all that mattered to Ken now. 

Ken felt suddenly incredibly sleepy, even though he was fighting not to surrender to sleep. The liquid darkness came and lapped at his feet, almost telling him it was time, and soon enough Ken found himself sinking down, deeper and deeper in the depths of time and then

everything went black.

* * * * *

The old man wandered through the remains of the village, watching silently the burned rests of the town that had seen him be born and grow old. Making his way through the fuming wreckages the man reached the old hut where they'd let that stranger -Ken- live in, and through the ruins found something he didn't expect to be there.

Half-burned and hid under a huge rock there was a small shirt. A very minute one, purple and with a white-yellow band in the middle, obviously designed for a small child to wear. Such pieces of clothing were most unusual there, and thus almost no one in the village could forget who first wore it. But the men that was now soaking the little shirt with his tears couldn't bring himself to forget it for reasons completely different from its peculiarity. 

His older son, his Daisuke, was wearing that one shirt when he'd found him, ten years before, wandering through the battlefield. He'd raised the child as his own, teaching him the art of war as he grew too old to protect the village. It never mattered to him that there were no blood relations, Daisuke was his son, and the man was proud to know Daisuke considered and loved him as his real father.

A warm hand came to cup the man's shoulder, and he -startled- looked up, gazing wonderingly at the blonde warrior at his side.  
"Yamato." The man croaked, rubbing his face harshly with his palms. "News?"  
"Well" The blonde swallowed and moved closer to the old man, who finally noticed the brunette all but hanging from Yamato's neck.

Taichi grinned at the older man as Yamato helped him to sit down, careful no to damage furthermore his broken leg.  
"What are you doing here, Taichi?" the man sighed, looking away from the boy so stunningly similar to his lost son. "You should be resting."  
"And leave you like this? Not a chance in Hell." Taichi beamed and patted the man on the back, when Yamato cleared his throat, kneeling in front of to him.

"Chief," Yamato shoot a glance at Taichi, who nodded back silently. "We lost no one in the battle." The man sighed, clutching the shirt tighter. "We've few dozens of people wounded, but no one died or is about to."  
"I see" the man couldn't suppress a sob this time, and looked down at Daisuke's shirt longingly. "Anyone's missing?" At the question, Yamato drew in a sharp breath, and even Taichi's grin faded.  
"Chief" the brunette began, carefully. "Only three are still missing"

"I lost all my sons" The man whispered back quietly. "I don't even have their corpses to bury. My Kenichitaro my Daisuke" The man paused, fingering the muddy piece of cloth. "Even Ken. He was about to become my son, and I think I could grow to love him as I love Daisuke, but lost him too. I lost all of them, for good." Dry sobs shook the man's now suddenly fragile-looking frame, and both boys at his sides could do nothing more but pat his back, whispering soothingly.

Surrendering to tears was a shame to the old man, but he could barely breathing straight, and his burning eyes were quickly swelling with moisture. Daisuke had always told him a real man does not cry, but Daisuke was not there anymore to humour him if he cried. 

Maybe if he cried, like Taichi and Yamato were telling him, he would feel better. Maybe his teardrops would fall on the ground and somehow produce a noise so high that it would call his sons back from whenever they were.

Yes, a teardrop only one teardrop---and maybe they'd be back.

As the burning single tear traced a white line across the man's cheek, two shapes loomed at the horizon, standing clearly against the setting sun. No one knows who saw them first, but somewhere amidst the ruins of the village a voice rose and identified the two.

"Daisuke!" The voice cried out excitedly. "Ken!" And not all the arguing and attempts to put a face to the disembodied voice that would occur in the years to follow could ever divulge which said it. Someone did, though, and immediately everyone stopped their ministration to look up at the sun and at the two boy strolling slowly toward them.

Again, no one knows who started it, but the whole village broke into an ovation and ran toward the two. Daisuke hold Ken even closer when a crowd began gathering around them, and Ken was happy to lean into his love's warmth, sighing gently into his chest. 

Voices began throwing questions at the two of them. Someone screamed, someone began to cry, someone squealed, pointing at the hug the two boys were wrapped him, while someone could just repeat their names, happy. But amidst the voices one resounded clearer and higher, somewhat impossible to ignore.

"Daisuke!" Daisuke's father was unable to say more and just rubbed his nose, a suspicious gesture that made Daisuke grin.  
"You cried, pop?"  
"Shut up, you little idiot." Despite everything, the two men were smiling, as humouring each other was a ritual to show their attachment. Jogging up to his side Takeru and Iori both gave Daisuke a brief hug, even though it was difficult to hug someone that refuses to pry his arms off someone else.

Ken too wasn't willing to let Daisuke go anytime soon. As promised, Daisuke hadn't let him go, but for Ken it wasn't yet enough. He didn't want to be apart from Daisuke. Never in his life. 

Stepping back after giving each just a friendly pat on Daisuke's shoulder, Takeru and Iori too put their arms around each other, just like Ken and Daisuke. If it was for support or for something else, that's theirs to known and ours to wonder, but the look on their faces was the same: joy.

"Where have you been?!" Taichi inquired from his resting spot in Yamato's arms, squirming and pouting about not being noticed first, the blonde torn between laughing and crying. 

Throwing his head back, Daisuke laughed, and picked Ken up, spinning him around in joy. Ken chuckled, but still refused to let Daisuke go, and kept his arms around his neck even when he was put back down and gifted with another breathtaking kiss.

Gingerly, Ken reached out and placed his hand on Daisuke's neck, feeling his heart pace at the same rhythm of his own. All thoughts of guilt and regret, all doubts and insecurity were gone from his mind as he closed his eyes and surrendered to the intoxicating feeling of Daisuke's kiss. 

For the first time he could recall, Ken was completely and utterly happy. He felt complete, at ease with life. The whole world could fall and shatter for all he cared right then. He had Daisuke and that was all that mattered.

Everything else could wait.

"Where I've been doesn't matter now!" Daisuke grinned as he broke the kiss, caressing Ken's face gently before whipping around to face their audience, throwing one hand over his head with a shout of joy. "We've other things to think about we have a wedding to organize!"

Well, maybe not everything

~Fin

  


***falls over* This is the second chaptered Kensuke I end and in less than a month!! *yelps happily* Liked it? Hated it? You think the ending wasn't good enough? Drop me and review and tell me! ^^  
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